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Michael McCaul has launched an investigation into the messy
withdrawal from Afghanistan under Democratic President Joe Biden
and events in the country since.
Republicans - and some Democrats - say there has never been a
full accounting of the chaotic operation, in which 13 U.S.
service members were killed at Kabul's airport.
McCaul had given the State Department until Monday to produce
the documents.
"Unfortunately, Secretary Blinken has refused to provide the
Dissent Cable and his response to the cable, forcing me to issue
my first subpoena as chairman of this committee," McCaul said in
a statement. He said the subpoena would be delivered on Tuesday
morning.
About two dozen U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan sent a
confidential cable through a so-called dissent channel warning
Blinken in July 2021 of the potential fall of Kabul to the
Taliban as U.S. troops withdrew from the country, The Wall
Street Journal reported in 2021.
Blinken said during a hearing last week that the department had
already shared information and was working to provide more, but
that some specific details could only be shared with senior
officials, a move intended to protect the identity of those who
had expressed dissent.
Asked by Reuters for comment on the subpoena, the State
Department referred to remarks by spokesperson Vedant Patel at
Monday's press briefing. Patel said it was "vital to us that we
preserve the integrity" of the dissent channel. He said the
department was "prepared to make the relevant information in the
cable available through briefings or some other mechanisms."
(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles and Eric Beech in
Washington; Editing by Sonali Paul and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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