Jen Psaki to answer questions from House Foreign Affairs committee over Biden's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal

President Joe Biden’s former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has agreed to sit down with the House Foreign Affairs Committee investigating the administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Biden admin pulled US forces out of Afghanistan abruptly in August 2021 in an operation that cost 13 US soldiers their lives. After the withdrawal, the Taliban regime took power and violence has plagued the country.

According to a letter sent to Rep. Michael McCaul, (R-TX), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Psaki will testify on July 26 at a closed-door transcribed interview with the House Foreign Affairs Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into the August 2021 withdrawal following 20 years of operating in Afghanistan. The deadline had been set by the Trump administration, but when Biden came into office, little planning was done to meet that deadline.



According to Fox News, investigators believe Psaki made many false claims in her role as a spokesperson for the administration and the operation. The committee is also looking to confront her regarding gaps in what she told reporters in the White House briefing room during the withdrawal as well as if Psaki knowingly made misleading claims, or whether inaccurate information was given to her. 

Psaki falsly told reporters that no Americans had been stranded in Afghanistan after the withdrawal.

Of the Taliban takeover, which has seen a complete decline in women's rights as well as an increase in violence, Psaki said they took over more quickly that the administration anticipated.

During last week's presidential debate, Biden falsely claimed “I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any – this decade – that didn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world, like [President Trump] did," despite 13 US service members being killed during the withdrawal. Additionally, earlier this year, three US service members died in a drone attack in Jordan.