A US foreign affairs panel released a scathing report on Sunday detailing the 2021 American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left the world’s biggest military spender red-faced after USD 7 billion worth of weapons and equipment ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee report accused US President Joe Biden’s administration of ignoring military advice and international concerns in his rush to exit the landlocked country. The report alleges that Biden’s administration prioritised a “political agenda” over national security and rebuffed advice from high-ranking officials who warned against a complete withdrawal.
‘Unconditionally withdrawal’
The report says that due to the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban rapidly overthrew the democratically elected government, leaving many Americans and Afghan allies vulnerable to reprisals. One of the report’s key findings is that top military officials, including the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised against a full troop withdrawal. Despite this, Biden moved forward with his plan, which was described as a “reckless, blind determination” to end the 20-year conflict, according to the report.
The report also blamed the US government for the death of 13 servicemembers who lost their lives in a bomb blast at the Kabul airport. “On April 14, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his decision to unconditionally withdraw all US military personnel from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. …The result of their inaction was a chaotic Non-combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) where 13 US servicemembers lost their lives and more than 800 Americans were abandoned behind enemy lines,” the 350-page report read.
Doha Agreement
The report also slammed Biden for ignoring the terms of the Doha Agreement, a deal negotiated by former President Donald Trump that required the Taliban to meet specific conditions before US troops could withdraw. The Biden government allegedly misled the public about the Taliban’s compliance with this agreement.
Another key finding is the lack of preparation for the evacuation of US citizens and Afghan allies. The report highlighted that a noncombatant evacuation operation was not officially ordered until August 16, 2021, just after the Taliban captured Kabul, resulting in chaotic scenes at the airport.
Timing of Report
The report’s release comes just days before Vice President Kamala Harris’s debate against Trump, raising accusations of political maneuvering. However, committee chairman Michael McCaul defended the timing, saying that the investigation faced significant delays due to obstruction. While the report is largely critical of Biden, it also acknowledges that Trump’s administration laid the groundwork for the withdrawal with the Doha deal, which excluded the Afghan government from negotiations.
This omission is seen as a contributing factor to the subsequent chaos, according to the report. The report has sparked a political firestorm, with Democrats accusing Republicans of cherry-picking facts to support a predetermined narrative. They argue that the Biden administration’s response to the rapidly changing situation was more nuanced than the report suggests.
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