Biden Admin Blocks Bipartisan Lawmakers From Accessing Afghan Evacuee Holding Site

The Biden administration on Thursday blocked a bipartisan delegation of House lawmakers from entering and inspecting a U.S.-run military facility near Doha, Qatar, where thousands of Afghan evacuees are being stationed prior to their possible relocation to America, according to a GOP lawmaker who participated in the visit.

Rep. Darrell Issa, who was part of a delegation that included House Foreign Affairs Committee members, told the Washington Free Beacon that lawmakers were barred from entering Camp As Sayliyah, an American-controlled compound where thousands of Afghan refugees are still being held since being airlifted to safety.

Issa's office spent weeks petitioning the Department of Defense for access to these Afghan refugees on behalf of the delegation, but the lawmakers were denied access to the U.S.-controlled site when they arrived Thursday at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha for a scheduled briefing on the American evacuation effort.

More than two months after the Biden administration left the country, Issa and lawmakers from both parties have largely been stymied in their efforts to investigate the botched U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan, which left scores of Americans stranded and even more Afghan allies at risk of being killed by the Taliban.

Issa said the U.S. military's refusal to permit lawmakers from carrying out their oversight duties is part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to keep the American public in the dark about exactly what unfolded in the war-torn country.

Though Issa and other lawmakers made multiple efforts to gain access to the holding facilities, Central Command ultimately denied their requests.

"You know what they're hiding? The latest Afghanistan disaster from the Biden administration," Issa spokesman Jonathan Wilcox told the Free Beacon.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/biden-admin-blocks-bipartisan-lawmakers-from-accessing-afghan-evacuee-holding-site/