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News broke Tuesday night that Congressmen Seth Moulton and Peter Meijer secretly traveled to Kabul, and U.S. officials are reportedly not happy about it.
They have since left Kabul, and in a statement they both said “Washington should be ashamed of the position we put our service members in.”
Moulton and Meijer, both veterans, concluded that “no matter what we do, we won’t get everyone out on time, even by September 11.”
This apparently stunned the Defense Department and the State Department.
The Associated Press reported the visit stunned “State Department and U.S. military personnel who had to divert resources to provide security and information to the lawmakers.”
One senior U.S. official said the administration saw the lawmakers’ visit as manifestly unhelpful and other officials said the visit was viewed as a distraction for troops and commanders at the airport who are waging a race against time to evacuate thousands of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others as quickly as possible.
According to the Washington Post, officials are “infuriated.
“It’s as moronic as it is selfish,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a frank assessment of their trip. “They’re taking seats away from Americans and at-risk Afghans — while putting our diplomats and service members at greater risk — so they can have a moment in front of the cameras”…Officials expressed disgust at having to divert resources and accommodate sitting members of Congress while racing to get evacuees out of the country. “It’s one of the most irresponsible things I’ve heard a lawmaker do,” said one diplomat familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It absolutely deserves admonishment.”
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D- CA) publicly scolded Moulton and Meijer on Twitter.
Prior to news of the trip breaking, Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent out a statement saying both Defense and State “have requested that Members not travel to Afghanistan and the region during this time of danger” because it would “unnecessarily divert needed resources from the priority mission.”