An Oklahoma congressman asked the U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan to help him move large amounts of money into the country for an Afghanistan rescue effort last week and made threats when he was rebuffed, The Washington Post reports. The State Department had issued strong warnings not to cross into Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. But Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said he was planning to hire a helicopter to evacuate five American citizens, a mother and her four children, and sought the ambassador’s help, according to the Post.
The ambassador, John Pommersheim, turned Mullin down, however, noting that such a transfer of money would be illegal. Mullin was reportedly enraged and threatened Pommersheim and his staff. The congressman is said to have already made a trip to Greece and requested State Department permission to go on to Kabul from there, which was also denied. Mullin’s current whereabouts are unknown to the State Department. One agency official told the Post, “To say this is extremely dangerous is a massive understatement.” Reps. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI) traveled to Kabul on an unauthorized trip last week amid the massive evacuation effort.
Read it at The Washington Post
