Democracy Dies in Darkness

In feud over Afghanistan exit, House panel subpoenas State Department

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Updated March 28, 2023 at 4:33 p.m. EDT|Published March 28, 2023 at 1:07 p.m. EDT
President Biden watches as U.S. Marines carry the remains of Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, at Dover Air Force Base, Del., in August 2021. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
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A senior U.S. lawmaker sent the State Department a subpoena for a classified diplomatic cable on Tuesday, escalating a standoff over the Biden administration’s exit from Afghanistan.

The move by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, intensifies the dispute over a July 2021 cable that employees at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul sent to Washington before the collapse of the U.S.-backed government there, setting in motion a tumultuous evacuation period that included a takeover by Taliban militants and an attack killing 13 U.S. service members.