U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin posted a message on Instagram Wednesday saying he was heading home after “helping get Americans out of Afghanistan.”
The message came after the Washington Post reported on Tuesday night that Mullin had been in the region and argued with U.S. State Department personnel over his plans to get into Afghanistan.
The Post reported that Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, asked U.S. embassy staff in Tajikistan on Monday to help him bring in more cash than that country allows so he could then go to neighboring Afghanistan to rescue five Americans. Mullin planned to use the cash to hire a helicopter, the paper said.
The Post, quoting unnamed sources, reported that the embassy refused and that Mullin then threatened them, though the actual threats were not reported. The Post said it was Mullin’s second attempt in the past two weeks to get into Afghanistan.
In the Instagram post, Mullin said, “I am heading home. Have we been helping get Americans out of Afghanistan, yes. Is the mission continuing, yes. Am I missing, no. Did I go dark for a little, yes because it wasn’t safe to be communicating. Am I extremely disappointed in how we (United States) left Americans behind … that would be an understatement.