House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that two congressmen’s recently disclosed trip to Afghanistan potentially put their lives at risk.
Mrs. Pelosi, who wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter on Tuesday warning members to stay out of the region, said she had learned about Reps. Seth Moulton and Peter Meijer’s trip before she released the letter.
“They have to make their own case as to why they went and this or that, but it was not, in my view, a good idea,” Mrs. Pelosi said Wednesday at a press conference.
The speaker added that the situation was “deadly serious” and reiterated her stance that no members should be going into the country or the surrounding region at the moment.
Mr. Meijer, Michigan Republican, and Mr. Moulton, Massachusetts Democrat, traveled Tuesday to Kabul to oversee U.S. evacuation efforts to get Americans and Afghan allies out of the country.
Mr. Moulton and Mr. Meijer, both military veterans, have been among the most vocal members about getting people out of the country, which the Taliban has seized control of.
The two did not make their trip public until they were en route to the Afghan capital.
The lawmakers’ defended their trip by saying they took precautions to ensure their safety and said they went to observe the procedural situation on the ground.
“Witnessing our young Marines and soldiers at the gates, navigating a confluence of humanity as raw and visceral as the world has ever seen, was indescribable,” Mr. Moulton tweeted Wednesday with a photo.
In her letter, Mrs. Pelosi said there’s been universal expression of urgency in evacuating people out of the country, and while the interest in traveling there is understandable, she encourages members to heed government agencies’ warnings against travel.
“Member travel to Afghanistan and the surrounding countries would unnecessarily divert needed resources from the priority mission of safely and expeditiously evacuating Americans and Afghans at risk,” Mrs. Pelosi wrote.
The Biden administration is facing pressure by several members of Congress who have vocalized the need to extend the Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
Some members also are urging the evacuation of Afghans who assisted U.S. soldiers in the country and whose lives will be put at risk by the Taliban.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat who sponsored a widely supported bill to get Afghan interpreters out of the area, urged the president to extend his deadline on Tuesday.
“We must do everything necessary to save all American citizens and to evacuate our Afghan partners and our allies,” Mr. Crow said at a press conference.
The Taliban warned that they would not allow Afghans to leave the country anymore and threatened violence if the U.S. presence lingers beyond August.
President Biden said Tuesday that more than 70,000 people have been assisted in leaving the nation.
Top administration officials have struggled to answer how many Americans are left in the country.
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