WASHINGTON — Rep. Michael McCaul asked the State Department to preserve documents linked to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a signal that Republicans will start a new investigation into the issue if House control switches in next month’s midterm elections.
McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wants the department to save any documents or communications that “may be potentially responsive to a future congressional inquiry, request, investigation, or subpoena,” he said in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Republicans have vowed to investigate several Biden administration actions if they win control of the House in the elections, as many polls now predict. McCaul has zeroed in on the Afghanistan withdrawal.
In a report released in August, McCaul said the withdrawal was a “strategic failure” by the Biden administration. His letter Monday said the State Department had ignored previous requests for documents and interviews.