Washington – Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee accuse the Biden administration of misleading the public. Chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan A report reviewed by CBS News detailed the panel’s two-year investigation into the 2021 recovery.
Republicans have pushed President Biden over deadly immigration, including 13 US soldiers were killed in the suicide bombing In Kabul, and they still are Criticism of Vice President Kamala HarrisDemocratic presidential candidate.
The lengthy report, which will be released on Monday but was shared exclusively with CBS News, is highly critical of Mr. Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, accusing the president and his administration of ignoring repeated warnings from military officials, national security advisers and US allies. . about the risks associated with bringing American forces to zero because he “prioritized politics and his personal legacy above America’s national security interests.”
“President Biden believes his historic position on Afghanistan will ensure his legacy,” the report said, adding that Harris “seems to be working in lockstep” with the president to withdraw all US troops.
Mr. Biden has rarely commented on the withdrawal from Afghanistan, but he said in September 2021 that he was “not going to extend this ‘war forever,’ and I’m not going to extend ‘exit forever.'”
Last year, the White House released His own report summarized a classified review of the withdrawal from Afghanistan that largely blamed the Trump administration for its deal with the Taliban to withdraw US forces from the country by May 2021. The deal, known as the Doha Accord, calls for the Taliban to meet conditions for a complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. other report Released by the State Department last year, both the Trump and Biden administrations were blamed for “inadequate” planning around the withdrawal, which was partially disclosed and published.
The White House report said that the intelligence community’s assessment was that the Taliban would gain only after the full withdrawal of the US military, and not before, but that ultimately did not happen during the summer of 2021.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee report included overly optimistic statements made by White House, State Department and Pentagon spokesmen in the weeks and days leading up to the withdrawal, even as the Taliban were consolidating control of the country. One example cited the Pentagon’s statement that Kabul was not in imminent danger. two days later, Kabul fell to the Taliban.
In its investigation, the committee conducted 18 transcript interviews with Biden administration officials — including former ambassador to Afghanistan Ross Wilson, General Austin Miller and former White House press secretary Jane Psaki. Along with holding public hearings since the investigation began, the panel also received 20,000 pages of documents from the State Department following a subpoena for the materials.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not testify before the committee for the report, despite requests from chairman Michael McCall. Last week, McCall subpoenaed Blinken to testify at a public hearing on the withdrawal from Afghanistan later this month.
The report includes recommendations to prevent a similar situation, including the restoration of the Crisis Bureau at the State Department and congressional action for the State Department and the Pentagon to maintain standard operating procedures. The report also called for a Department of Defense review of the Abbey Gate investigation.
The report also details the chaotic month of August 2021, in which Wilson fled with embassy staff, leaving the entire Evacuation Support Operations team to fend for themselves. The report said the diplomat took a two-week vacation in July and August despite the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
Local workers were “actively deprived” of the evacuation, and the report said many left the Kabul airport in tears. US legal permanent residents without American passports were beaten and denied entry by the Taliban, while there were also times when American citizens were beaten, including a 12-year-old boy from Virginia, the report said.
Jim DeHart, the consul general in charge of special immigrant visas, described the scene at the airport as a “revelation”. The report said the Taliban would whip and kill entire groups of Afghans who showed up at the airport, and US service members were forbidden from intervening.
The committee largely blames the White House National Security Council and National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan for providing the talking points used during this period, and alleges “the source of much of that disinformation campaign”. Sullivan and the National Security Council failed to get input from key U.S. officials in Afghanistan, the committee said. Republicans have requested that Sullivan testify, which he has so far refused to do.
The report also indicts Zalme Khalilzad, who helped broker the Doha agreement. Khalilzad was appointed by President Trump, and continued in his post as Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation under Mr. Biden.
The report accused Khalilzad of undermining the Afghan government by excluding him from the talks, as well as undermining America’s longstanding policy of not negotiating with terrorists. Top military officials said Khalilzad did not consult with the US military during the negotiations, leaving them “in the dark” about the exact terms of the deal.
In his testimony before the committee in November 2023, Khalilzad “explained that there was never a comprehensive assessment by the committee. [Biden] administration on whether the Taliban is complying with the Doha Agreement,” according to the report. State Department documents obtained by the committee through subpoena show that the administration knew in March 2021 that the Taliban was violating the agreement.
Still, the following month Mr. Biden announced his decision to withdraw the remaining 2,500 troops from Afghanistan. He will leave America before the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Former State Department spokesman Ned Price told the committee in December 2023 that the Taliban’s adherence to the deal was “immaterial” to the administration’s decision to withdraw.
Despite the decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, the State Department was determined to keep the US embassy in Kabul, according to the report. The report criticized the State Department’s lack of preparation for the worst-case scenario that would require an immediate evacuation when the Taliban took control of Kabul.
Multiple witnesses told the committee that plans for a non-combatant evacuation operation to evacuate the embassy, US citizens and Afghans who had aided the US military did not begin until August 2021, reportedly after the Taliban had made extensive gains. across the country.
As a result, when the evacuation began, “the State Department was not operating according to a plan,” leading to chaotic decisions on the ground due to pressure to evacuate as many people as possible.
The evacuation helped more than 124,000 people leave Afghanistan, but not everyone who was eligible could leave, as did many Afghans who helped the military in the 20-year war, according to the report.
Withdrawal from Afghanistan would have long-term consequences for US national security, the committee said.
“When Kabul fell, many drew comparisons to Saigon because, once again, US helicopters were evacuating long-time allies and evacuating Americans from the US embassy. But this investigation shows that what happened in Afghanistan was far worse.
The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Gregory Meeks, in a letter attached to the minority report, warned that he expected a “biased” report from committee Republicans, who he claimed sought to “politicize US withdrawal from Afghanistan.” The New York Democrat argued that the Republican majority would “take particular pains to avoid facts involving former President Donald Trump,” adding to criticism of Harris as Election Day nears.
In the minority report, which was shared with CBS News, committee Democrats defended the Biden administration’s preparations for withdrawal and response amid rapidly changing conditions. The report accused the Trump administration of moving into motion without “the necessary interagency preparations or contingency planning for a systematic drawdown,” while handing the Biden administration a policy that was “shambolic and uncooperative.”
“President Trump began an irreversible withdrawal without sending significantly more American troops to Afghanistan to face renewed fighting with the Taliban,” Meeks said. “Instead of sending more Americans to fight the war in Afghanistan, President Biden decided to end it.”
Eleanor Watson is a CBS News multi-platform reporter and producer covering the Pentagon.
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