“Stupid and selfish”: US lawmakers withdraw from Kabul visit

Thursday, August 26, 2021

“Stupid and Selfish”
US lawmakers set aside Kabul visit

Two members of the House of Representatives visit American soldiers in Kabul without any notice. To do this, they have to listen to harsh words: “stupid”, “selfish”, “irresponsible”. Two Iraqi veterans – one Democrat, one Republican – see themselves as parliamentary controllers.

An unannounced visit to the airport in Kabul by two US lawmakers – amid evacuation operations there – has drawn sharp criticism. Lawmakers Seth Moulton and Peter Meijer traveled to the airport in Afghanistan’s capital without prior consultation with the government agencies responsible for estimating the deployment of US forces, as they told the latter in a written statement. As members of Congress, they are responsible for overseeing government agencies, and this is especially true with ongoing operations in Afghanistan, he argued.

Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said in Washington that afternoon: “We were unaware of this visit.” Nor do they recommend any VIP travel in Kabul “in a very tense, dangerous and dynamic situation”. “I think the minister would have appreciated the opportunity to speak to him before the visit.” Kirby said lawmakers had spoken to commanders and soldiers at the airport. However, he insisted that lawmakers had stolen time “from what we had planned for that day” with their visit.

Pelosi: “This is deadly serious”

The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, also criticized the congressman’s visit and called on the remaining members of the chamber not to follow suit under any circumstances. “This is deadly serious,” said the Democrat. We don’t want MPs to travel there.

Moulton is a Democrat, Meijer is a Republican. Both are veterans of Iraq. It was initially unclear how the two reached the Kabul airport without the knowledge of the foreign ministry or the defense ministry. In his statement, he insisted that on the return flight he had taken vacant seats for the crew members to ensure that no one needed protection during the evacuation.

The Washington Post quoted a government official who was extremely angry and called the action “stupid” and “selfish”. The two would have interrupted the operation to “spend a moment in front of the cameras”. One diplomat described the newspaper as “one of the most irresponsible things about MPs” he had heard about.