Comer Demands Increased Transparency into Federal Agencies’ Afghan Resettlement Programs

WASHINGTON – House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is probing the United States’ efforts to relocate Afghans in the United States following the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. In a letter to two senior officials in charge of Afghan resettlement, Chairman Comer requests documents and information pertaining to programs and their contractors that relocate Afghans into the United States. This inquiry follows previous Oversight Committee letters on the issue on October 6, 2021, and February 25, 2022.

“Since the Biden Administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 70,000 former Afghan nationals have been relocated through U.S. federal programs throughout communities within the United States. It is inconceivable that proper vetting procedures were followed during the chaos and disarray of the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan and questions remain to the nature of persons enrolled in domestic resettlement programs. It is incumbent upon Congress to gain more transparency into the programs that have been instated to accomplish resettlement efforts and gain answers for the American people,” said Chairman Comer.

Through the Operation Allies Welcome program, which is led by the Department of State (State Department) and involves multiple departments and agencies, the U.S. has relocated nearly 70,000 Afghans into local communities across the country. The program has assisted their transition into life in the U.S, including through the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation (CARE) program run by the State Department, which organizes relocation efforts across various U.S. government agencies. 

Read the letter to Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts Program Chief of Staff Dan Forbes and Afghanistan Mission Director for United States Agency for International Development Joel Sandefur here.