Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said on Thursday that the situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate every day under the “failed policies” of President Joe Biden’s administration.

McCaul stated this during the US House committee’s hearing on Afghanistan policy since the withdrawal of American troops from the country.

He suggested that in addition to restrictions on women, China’s activities in Afghanistan are also a source of concern.

“They are exploring the rarest minerals, and I won’t be surprised if one day we woke up and guess it is gonna take Bagram airbase that was a crown jewel of our ISR capability for that region that we turned over to the Taliban. I won’t be surprised if we woke up and find the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) operating that precious jewel we had in Afghanistan – Bagram airbase,” McCaul said.

Meanwhile, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West said that al-Qaeda’s ability to threaten the United States from Afghanistan or Pakistan is at a low point since the group relocated from Sudan in 1996.

“Al-Qaeda’s low capability is the result of successful counter-terrorism action by the United States and its allies over 20 years. The Taliban’s (IEA) sheltering of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a safe house in Kabul was a flagrant violation of their security commitments. Since then, we assess that the Taliban have undertaken efforts to fulfil their security commitments with regard to al-Qaeda,” West said.

Rina Amiri, US special envoy for Afghan women, emphasized that so long as IEA continue restrictions on women, there will be “no movement forward in normalization of our relations.”

IEA has previously said that it is committed to ensuring women’s rights according to Sharia law. It has also said that it will not allow anyone to pose threat from Afghan soil to other countries.