U.S. Secretary of State faces 2nd day of bipartisan anger and questions over Afghanistan withdrawal

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday sought to ward off bipartisan congressional criticism of the Biden administration's Afghanistan withdrawal as new intelligence estimates warned that al-Qaeda could soon again use Afghan soil to plot attacks on the United States.

Blinken faced a second day of tough congressional questioning, this time from the Senate foreign relations committee. As was the case a day earlier before the House foreign affairs committee, he was assailed by Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike over the administration's handling of the pullout.

Even lawmakers sympathetic to U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to end America's longest-running war by withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years expressed disappointment and concern about the large number of Americans, green card holders and at-risk Afghans left behind in the chaotic evacuation from Kabul.

And, as Blinken testified just three days after the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, intelligence officials presented a bleak assessment that al-Qaeda could begin to use Afghan territory to threaten America within one to two years.

"The execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed," said committee chair Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, who has been generally supportive of U.S. President Joe Biden's foreign policy but has taken issue with several of its aspects, including Afghanistan.

"This committee expects to receive a full explanation of this administration's decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January. There has to be accountability."

Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the ranking Republican member of the panel, called the withdrawal a "dismal failure." He accused the administration of "ineptitude" that has cost the United States international credibility, led to a deadly attack on U.S. troops and Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport and left many in the lurch.