Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. French Hill (AR-02), member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today released the following statement after the committee held a hearing to examine the Biden Administration’s botched emergency evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021.

 

“Our withdrawal from Afghanistan was terrible and could have been conducted in an extraordinarily more effective manner. The Biden Administration’s decision to withdraw without an adequate plan was reckless and resulted in the deaths of 13 servicemembers and stranded hundreds of other Americans and loyal Afghans behind enemy lines – some of which remain entrapped to this day.

 

“In 2015, I visited Kabul and met a young woman, Naheed Esar, who was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Arkansas and wanted to return home to Afghanistan in pursuit of a career as an independent researcher and writer. As a direct result of our egregious withdrawal from the region, dreams like Naheed’s have been shattered. Women are no longer equal in Afghanistan and are subjected to unconscionable actions under Taliban rule. The regression of women’s rights is devastating and is a far cry from the positive social progress that was made with the help of the United States. Today’s first hearing on the failed withdrawal was critical in Congress taking action to get to the bottom of what happened and ensure something like this never happens again.”