2 GOP lawmakers have questions about Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's alleged $169-million escape

Two House Republicans — Reps. James Comer (Ky.) and Glenn Grothman (Wisc.) — penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday, raising concerns about the allegations that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country with $169 million in cash, Mediaite reports.

Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, and Grothman, the ranking Republican on Oversight's national security subcommittee, called it "imperative that corrupt foreign government officials not be permitted to personally enrich themselves with U.S. taxpayer money." They went on to call Ghani's actions "reckless and cowardly," and having contributed "to the speed with which the Taliban took over the country."

The two lawmakers concluded their letter by thanking Garland for his consideration of the issue, but not before outlining a list of questions they'd like answered by the Justice Department, including whether or not the alleged $169 million came out of U.S. funding, and what the department plans to do to bring Ghani "to justice," if he did engage in corrupt activity.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As Mediaite notes, the "missive" could represent "a fresh angle in some of the investigations [Republicans] are likely to pursue" regarding the fall of Afghanistan. Read more at Mediaite.