(NewsNation) — A new revelation potentially upends the investigation into what happened during the controversial U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and has renewed calls in Washington for answers.
Thirteen U.S. service members and 170 Afghan civilians were killed after an ISIS member detonated a suicide bomb just outside the Kabul airport, as the U.S. military tried to evacuate American and Afghan allies from the country.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, alleges the bombing and deaths could have been prevented.
Rep. McCaul says U.S. intelligence had ISIS in their sights and knew they were plotting a bomb to take out Americans. But a request for a preemptive U.S. airstrike was denied.
“I will not rest until we get answers and accountability as to what happened,” McCaul said. “How did this go so wrong?”
McCaul is now pushing for more answers about the Biden administration’s moves back in 2021.
The father of one of the service members killed during the incident spoke to Newsnation, saying he’s angry.
“I’m pissed off. I’m very, very angry,” said Mark Schmitz. “There’s a lot of pain and it doesn’t get any easier. There’s a hole now that can’t ever be filled.”
Schmitz says he is totally unsatisfied with the information he has gotten so far, and he and other families will continue to push Congress and the Biden administration for more.
“I want the history books to be written correctly on what really happened over there, instead of what is being touted on media circuits,” he said. “And you know with Biden saying it was an extraordinary success is an absolute spit in our face.“
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden commented on the issue in early July, saying, “He (Biden) had to make a tough decision on what to do with the nation’s longest war.”
Rep. McCaul is now calling for further accountability.
“This was not a clean operation. This was not a successful evacuation by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “This story gets worse by the day and I will not rest until we get to the bottom of it.”
Retired Maj. General William Enyart joined “NewsNation Prime” to discuss McCaul’s allegation. Enyart said McCaul was using the tragic event to further his political agenda, calling it “appalling.”
“This is less a quest for truth than it is to use their deaths for a political assault,” Enyart said.
Enyart emphasized that not bombing ISIS had nothing to do with the suicide attack.
“The attack was already planned and on and underway,” he said. “The Congressman conflates the issues, bombing ISIS case headquarters that day, would have done nothing to stop this attack.”