McCaul demands State preserve documents on Afghanistan withdrawal 

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting the department preserve all documents related to the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. 

The request by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is part of his effort to exercise oversight of the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, probing the death of 13 U.S. service members in a terrorist attack at the time, the melting away of the Kabul government in the face of the Taliban takeover and the chaotic evacuation efforts. 

McCaul, in his letter to Blinken, wrote that “it is imperative that you remind all Department employees and officials of their legal responsibilities to collect, retain, and preserve documents, communications, and other records in accordance with federal law, including the Federal Records Act and related regulations.” 

In his letter, the Texas Republican said the preservation request “should be construed as an instruction to preserve all documents … that is or may be potentially responsive to a future Congressional inquiry, request, investigation, or subpoena.”

A preservation of records request is a popular tool for the minority party in Congress to telegraph its priorities, even if it holds little concrete authority. 

Still, the request is also viewed as laying the groundwork for possible subpoena requests if Republicans become the majority party in the House after the midterm elections, in which case McCaul is likely to become the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Among the records he requested be preserved “electronic messages involving official business that are sent using both official and personal accounts or devices, including records created using text messages, phone- based message applications, or encryption software.”

McCaul further raised previous records requests that he says have gone unfulfilled, including an August 2021 request for “specific documents and information related to the U.S. evacuation of Kabul” and a November 2021 request that 34 State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development employees sit for transcribed interviews. 

“Please note, we plan to request further documents regarding specific and troubling activities that have come to the Minority’s attention. This may also necessitate additional transcribed interview requests,” McCaul continued.

In August, McCaul published an interim report forcefully criticizing President Biden’s planning and execution of the Afghanistan withdrawal and slamming the State Department as being obstructive in its attempts at investigation and documentation. The White House slammed the report as hyperpartisan.