Pentagon to release reviews on US withdrawal from Afghanistan
(CNN) — President Joe Biden was “severely constrained” by the conditions created by President Donald Trump as he decided to move ahead with the complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, according to a summary of findings from an administration-wide after-action review released Thursday.
Classified findings from the reviews by the State Department and Pentagon were also transmitted to Congress on Thursday, fulfilling a White House pledge to provide the information following the bloody and chaotic withdrawal, which included a deadly bombing at Kabul International Airport that killed 13 US troops.
The 12-page summary document defends Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan while acknowledging certain lessons that have been applied since. It cites intelligence that provided overly rosy projections of the security situation and notes Biden followed recommendations from his military commanders in executing the withdrawal.
Overall, however, the summary describes a difficult situation made more onerous by Trump’s decisions when he was in office, including entering into an agreement with the Taliban requiring US troops to withdraw by May 2021.
“President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor,” the summary states.
The summary ardently defends Biden’s decision to order a complete withdrawal.
“There were no signs that more time, more funds, or more Americans at risk in Afghanistan would have yielded a fundamentally different trajectory,” the summary reads.
Yet after the chaotic attempts to evacuate US citizens and those who assisted the American war effort, the administration now works to facilitate departures earlier in other situations.
“We now prioritize earlier evacuations when faced with a degrading security situation. We did so in both Ethiopia and Ukraine,” the report reads.
Similarly, the administration will work to more assertively communicate the risks of remaining in unsafe situations.
“In a destabilizing security environment, we now err on the side of aggressive communication about risks,” the summary reads.
Multiple federal agencies conducted reviews following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Their release was initially targeted to the one-year anniversary of the pullout, but were delayed as the agencies completed their work.
Following the US withdrawal in August 2021, the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban swiftly returned to power.
A bombing outside the Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate also killed 13 US service members — 11 Marines, 1 soldier and 1 sailor — along with approximately 170 Afghans.
President Joe Biden ordered up the reviews to determine what went wrong.
“We will take a look at every aspect of this from top to bottom,” he said.
After taking control of the US House of Representatives, Republicans have also begun looking into the Afghanistan withdrawal, requesting documents and communications are part of their probe.
This story has been updated with additional developments.