A new report on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, released on Monday, critically assesses the Biden administration's decision-making and highlights significant flaws in both the planning and execution of the withdrawal. The report paints a grim picture of how the situation has been handled and raises concerns about the leadership throughout the process.
The 353-page report, authored by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and titled “Willful Blindness: Assessing the Biden-Harris Administration's Afghanistan Withdrawal and Its Aftermath,” argues that Biden's determination to pull out ignored critical advice from the military and national security advisers, leading to a chaotic and deadly withdrawal.
According to the publication's press release:
Our investigation reveals that the Biden-Harris Administration had the information and opportunity to take the steps necessary to prepare for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government and safely evacuate Americans, U.S. citizens, green card holders, and our brave Afghan allies.
The report particularly focuses on the regime's failure to predict the rapid collapse of Kabul and the resulting chaos, arguing that the regime delayed evacuation plans out of fear of how it would appear to the international community.
Methodology
During the three-year investigation, the committee held eight congressional hearings and roundtables with witnesses from the White House, the State Department, and the Department of Defense (DOD). In addition, several officials were interviewed privately. The report highlights that, despite being accountable to Congress, these agencies were often unwilling and uncooperative in complying.
The committee also reviewed 20,000 pages of documents related to the withdrawal that the State Department prepared following two threats of subpoenas against Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Key findings
The report outlines several significant failures by the Biden-Harris administration during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Decisive withdrawal. The Biden-Harris administration is determined to withdraw from Afghanistan despite the terms of the Doha Agreement (signed by the Trump administration and the Taliban in 2020) and the opposition of the Afghan government and its NATO allies. The unilateral withdrawal decision shows a clear disregard for the evolving situation on the ground.
Appearances over Safety. The Administration prioritized the appearance of the withdrawal over the safety of U.S. personnel. By postponing Noncombatant Evacuation Operations (NEO) until after the Taliban entered Kabul, it failed to prepare for all contingencies and created a dangerous environment.
Failure to Protect Personnel. The Administration's delay in issuing the NEO left U.S. personnel vulnerable, which resulted in the tragic deaths of 13 service members in a terrorist attack on August 26, 2021, the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since 2012.
Diminished national security. The withdrawal once again turned Afghanistan into a “terrorist haven” for groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS-K. America's global credibility was damaged as its Afghan allies were abandoned in the face of Taliban retaliation. Veterans and active duty troops also suffered.
“Misinformation campaign.” Administration officials, even from the Oval Office, misled and “directly lied” to the American public throughout the withdrawal process. National Security Council officials and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan were cited as major sources of misinformation throughout the withdrawal process.
Democratic response
The White House denounced the report and accused House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) of bias and misrepresentation.
“Chairman McCaul's latest partisan report demonstrates that it is based on cherry-picked facts, inaccurate portrayals and pre-existing bias,” White House spokesperson Sharon Yang told The Hill, defending President Biden's decision to end the war, highlighting the difficult choice between escalating the conflict with an emboldened Taliban or withdrawing after two decades of fighting.
Yang stressed that President Biden's decision is in line with the framework set out by the Trump administration in the Doha agreement.
Similarly, Sen. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the committee's ranking director, criticized Republicans for “politicizing” the Afghanistan withdrawal and downplaying former President Trump's role in negotiating the agreement.
And he noted that the recent focus on Vice President Harris represents an escalation of those efforts. In a minority report released alongside the GOP findings, Meeks noted that with Vice President Kamala Harris leading the Democratic presidential field, “the Republican Party's performance has reached a high point. Republicans have argued that she is the architect of America's retreat, yet her name appears only three times in the committee's 3,288 pages of interview records.”
While Harris claimed in April 2021 that she was “the last person in the room” before President Biden made the final decision to go ahead with the withdrawal, various sources have suggested that she played a limited role in shaping the withdrawal strategy and managing the withdrawal process itself.
Withdrawal timeline
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan began in April 2021 when President Joe Biden announced that all U.S. troops would be removed by September 11, 2021, extending the May 1 deadline set in the Doha Agreement under the Trump administration. The withdrawal officially began on May 1 and initially proceeded steadily. On July 2, U.S. forces quietly withdrew from Bagram Air Base, leaving Afghan forces to defend the country. The base was of unparalleled importance, “serving as a nerve center for U.S. and NATO operations as well as a key counterterrorism base in the region,” the report said.
By early August, the Taliban had advanced rapidly, capturing key provincial capitals. On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul, the Afghan government collapsed, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The United States hastily evacuated its embassy, ​​and chaos descended on Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA). A formal non-combatant evacuation operation was ordered the same day, but the situation quickly deteriorated as thousands of Afghan civilians and US allies gathered at the airport, seeking refuge.
From August 16 to August 31, U.S. forces worked to evacuate American citizens, Afghan allies, and other vulnerable individuals. On August 26, an ISIS-K suicide bombing at Abbey Gate near Hong Kong International Airport killed 13 U.S. soldiers and at least 170 Afghans. On August 30, the last U.S. military aircraft departed Kabul, officially ending nearly two decades of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Despite the massive evacuation, many Afghan allies and at-risk individuals were left behind. By September 1, 2021, Afghanistan was entirely under Taliban control.
Left Behind
After the hasty withdrawal, the Biden administration left behind roughly $7.1 billion worth of defense articles and equipment in Afghanistan, including military vehicles, aircraft, weapons and other equipment provided to Afghan security forces over the years.
