Secretary of State Antony Blinken was testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.

One of the big questions about the Afghanistan debacle that the Biden team has completely avoided answering is the breakdown of the 124,000 individuals evacuated — about 6,000 were Americans, allegedly. How many of the rest were actually SIVs/people who had helped the US to whom we had an obligation?

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) dropped the question on Blinken.

Sen. Portman pushing back on Blinken saying U.S. withdrawal not a "sign of weakness." Portman outraged that Afghan interpreters were left behind, says 3/4 of Afghans evacuated were "not qualified." Says NATO commanders "shocked" and U.S. pull out has "shaken foundations" of NATO.

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) September 14, 2021

Actually, it was more of a statement, because he was offering more truth than Blinken ever has on the subject. He said that “3/4 of the people” that they evacuated weren’t qualified. So they extracted a lot of people — just not the people that they were supposed to get out and to whom we owed the obligation. Apparently, they just took a bunch of folks so they could bump up the numbers and say “see our extraordinary success.” That’s not only incredibly wrong, and offensive to the allies that we left, but it’s also incredibly dangerous because that means most of those people had no real history with the U.S. and any vetting would have had to have been done on the spot or after they were evacuated. As we saw, that already caused issues, with 10,000 of the 30,000 brought to the U.S. needing more vetting, 100 having potential terrorist ties, and two having to be sent to Kosovo for further screening because of those connections.

@senrobportman: Joe Biden’s “disastrous" and "chaotic" Afghanistan withdrawal “was not based on conditions on the ground” pic.twitter.com/j6oO14GUj4

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 14, 2021

Portman also skewered Blinken’s lie that they had consulted with NATO partners on this, when NATO partners have made very clear that they were not consulted and that was part of the problem.

Today: Secretary of State Blinken tells Senate panel NATO "embraced" the decision for U.S. to withdrawal from Afghanistan

Last month: British defense chief Ben Wallace said the American retreat was something the "international community will probably pay the consequences" for

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) September 14, 2021

Ron Johnson cuts off Blinken as he tries to get a word in, dismisses his comments as “bureaucratic speak” pic.twitter.com/vvBkjux8dd

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 14, 2021

State Secretary Antony Blinken says the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was made in coordination with NATO, the European Union and other U.S. allies.

France, Germany and U.K. were urging the White House to extend the deadline in the days leading up to the withdrawal.

— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) September 14, 2021

.@senrobportman slams Joe Biden's “precipitous chaotic withdrawal" that "embarrassed us around the globe” pic.twitter.com/CP414VXPs2

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 14, 2021

Even Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), usually a very liberal and strident party man, was disturbed at what the Biden team had done. There are 45 of his Connecticut residents who are trapped and can’t get out, including citizens and legal permanent residents.

Blumenthal to reporters: "I feel very passionately that we are tanking America's reputation around the world but more importantly abandoning essential honor, and moral imperative by failing to do more to evacuate American citizens & Afghan allies who put their lives on the line"

— Alan He (@alanhe) September 14, 2021

Bottom line? We still had citizens, legal permanent residents, and some 80,000 SIVs. The planes are still trapped at Mazar-i-Sharif. What are these characters doing to try to get any of these folks out? Why did the Defense Secretary completely refuse to testify? Likely because they can’t justify the drone strikes that they claim took out ISIS, but have declined to present any evidence to support. Indeed, the second strike was an aid worker, another contractor with U.S. ties, and 8 children. Why do they keep lying over and over again about the situation? The senators are grilling them now which is good, but they need to be pushed to act now to get the remaining people out.