Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as an ending of the country's longest war that freed resources for other conflicts, in testimony in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

"Our adversaries, including Russia, would have been delighted if we had doubled down and remained stuck in Afghanistan for another 20 years," Blinken told a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, in what is likely his final public testimony to lawmakers before leaving office next month, Reuters reported.

Blinken's appearance came after a long dispute with the Republican-led committee over when he would testify about one of the darkest incidents of Democratic President Joe Biden's presidency.

Republican Representative Michael McCaul, the panel's chairman, blasted the administration for the deaths of 13 Americans in a suicide attack at Kabul's airport in August 2021 and for thousands of Afghans who worked with U.S. forces who could not be evacuated as the the Islamic Emirate took over.

"You ignored warnings of collapse from your own personnel," McCaul said.

Blinken said every American who wanted to leave Afghanistan has been given the opportunity to leave and thousands of Afghans have been resettled internationally, although Washington remains committed to helping those who remain.

House Foreign Affairs and the State Department had wrangled over Blinken's appearance for months. Panel Republicans voted in September - weeks before the presidential election - to recommend the top U.S. diplomat be held in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena.

The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war became intensely politicized during the campaign pitting Republican President-elect Donald Trump against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20, has vowed to go after those responsible for the withdrawal. During his campaign, he said he would ask for the resignation of every senior official "who touched the Afghanistan calamity."

Democrats have insisted much of the blame for the war's messy end - less than seven months into Biden's presidency - rests with Trump, who began the withdrawal process by signing a deal with Afghanistan's Islamic Emirate in 2020.

McCaul also announced during the hearing that Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had agreed to brief the committee on Dec. 17.

McCaul released a report on Sept. 8 on a Republican investigation of the Afghanistan withdrawal, blasting Biden's administration for failures surrounding the evacuation. Panel Democrats also released their own investigation.

Pakistan has said Islamabad is “deeply shocked” at the martyrdom of Afghanistan Acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani in an explosion on Wednesday afternoon.

Haqqani was martyred in an attack inside the ministry on Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday night, Ishaq Dar, Pakistan's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, said Islamabad “unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We are in touch with the Interim Afghan Government to ascertain further details.”

Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq also passed on his condolences.

He said: “The Government and people of Pakistan are deeply shocked and saddened by the cowardly terrorist attack in Kabul today, which targeted Alhaj Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani, Acting Minister for Refugees.

“Pakistan stands in solidarity with Afghanistan in this hour of grief and reiterates its commitment to work with Afghanistan in fighting the menace of terrorism and promoting regional peace and stability.”

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has expressed its condolences over the martyrdom of the Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s, and said he was “a tireless Mujahid in the way of God".

On Wednesday evening, IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s martyrdom was a great loss for the government, the Mujahideen, his family and all Afghans.

“Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani spent his whole life in defense of God's religion in Jihad, migration and enduring hardships. He was one of the members of the great Jihadi family for which the enemies of Islam had set a five million dollars bounty on his head,” the statement read.

“Such a cowardly act cannot weaken the will of Muslims or lead the conspirators to their sinister goals against our strong Islamic system. Rather, such cowardly actions make the faces of the enemies of religion and Islam blacker and make their sinister intentions more obvious,” he said.

No group or individual has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has expressed its condolences over the martyrdom of the Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s, and said he was “a tireless Mujahid in the way of God".

IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s martyrdom was a great loss for the government, the Mujahideen, his family and all Afghans.

“Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani spent his whole life in defense of God's religion in Jihad, migration and enduring hardships. He was one of the members of the great Jihadi family for which the enemies of Islam had set a five million dollars bounty on his head,” the statement read.

“Such a cowardly act cannot weaken the will of Muslims or lead the conspirators to their sinister goals against our strong Islamic system. Rather, such cowardly actions make the faces of the enemies of religion and Islam blacker and make their sinister intentions more obvious,” he said.

The IEA stated that Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani’s was martyred, in a cowardly attack by “Khawarij”.

Khalil-ur-Rahman Haqqani was martyred in an suicide bombing that took place on Wednesday afternoon inside the ministry, but no further casualties have been reported yet.

Khalil Rahman Haqqani, 58, has been the acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation since September 7, 2021.