WASHINGTON, D.C. — First District Congressman Tracey Mann led a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing deep concerns about the Biden Administration's handling of evacuating American citizens from Afghanistan and negotiations leading to the payment of ransoms. U.S. Rep. and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN), U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), and 19 other Republican Study Committee members joined Rep. Mann on the letter.
"The American people deserve to know whether the United States has provided any financial assistance to the Taliban in exchange for the release of American citizens, or whether the Taliban has requested such assistance, which amounts to ransom," Mann said. "The State Department owes the American people an answer regarding whether President Biden has given the Taliban the upper hand and put the United States in the position of funding a terrorist regime to get our fellow citizens home."
The members stated any negotiations leading to a form payment of ransom will give the Taliban resources that could be used to attack the United States and its allies.
Rep. Mann and his colleagues also requested that the Biden Administration be fully transparent by providing copies of all diplomatic documents and communications pertaining to unfreezing former Afghan government assets and sanctions relief to the Taliban within 10 days of their request.
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