In a new report, the administration of US President Joe Biden has placed the responsibility for its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan on his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Mr. Biden was “severely constrained” by Mr. Trump’s decisions, including a deal to end the conflict with the Taliban in 2020, according to a 12-page summary of the report.
However, the report acknowledges that the government should have initiated the evacuation of civilians sooner.
Mr. Trump responded that the White House was engaged in a “game of disinformation.”
The bloody withdrawal in August 2021 terminated the United States’ longest war.
Thirteen US servicemen and over 200 Afghans died as US forces evacuated 120,000 people in days.
The State Department and Pentagon delivered Congress a confidential evaluation of withdrawal decisions and actions Thursday.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives, who are investigating the pullout, demanded the report for several weeks.
The White House National Security Council and President Biden released a summary of the document’s findings.
When the Afghan government crumbled, enormous throngs fled the Taliban at Kabul’s airport.
On August 26, two suicide bombers attacked an airport, killing 170 Afghans and 13 American soldiers.
A few days later, the United States conducted a drone strike in Kabul, claiming to have targeted a suicide bomber. But later admitting that the missile had killed 10 civilians, including seven children.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the withdrawal put the UK in a “very difficult position.
John Kirby, the national security spokesman for President Biden, attributed the disarray on Thursday to a depleted operation in Afghanistan inherited from the Trump administration.
The report describes the Trump administration’s “neglect – and in some cases deliberate degradation.”
Mr. Kirby explained that this phrase refers to the agreement the former president reached with the insurgents in Qatar a year earlier to end the war, as well as the drawdown of US troops during Mr. Trump’s administration, the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners, and the dismantling of the visa program used to evacuate Afghan allies.
“Transitions are important,” said Mr. Kirby as he summarised the report. “This is the initial instruction learned. And the incoming administration did not receive a substantial one.”
Mr. Trump responded via social media within hours of the report’s publication, accusing “Idiots in the White House” of playing “a new disinformation game – Blame “TRUMP” for their grossly incompetent SURRENDER in Afghanistan.”
“Biden is responsible, no one else!” he said.
Michael McCaul, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also criticized the administration for its “brazen attempt to whitewash their failure in Afghanistan.”
The report suggests that the evacuation of American and Afghan combatants could have begun sooner.
On page seven, it states, “We now prioritize earlier evacuations when faced with deteriorating security.”
The report blames the Afghan government, military, and US military and intelligence community evaluations for these delays.
Mr. Kirby stated that Mr. Biden “acted based on the best military judgment and the best intelligence community assessments,” but “some of these assessments turned out to be incorrect.”
He said, “For all this talk of chaos, I simply did not see it.”
Following the collapse of Kabul, the Biden administration received severe domestic and international criticism. Many were outraged by the abandonment of Afghans and American weapons.
Mr. Kirby stated that some lessons had been learned from the conclusion of the conflict in Afghanistan, particularly regarding the failure to predict the sudden collapse of the Afghan government.
He added that this had influenced the United States’ decision to support Ukraine before the Russian invasion.
Mr. Kirby defended the release’s timing before a US holiday weekend in a tense White House press briefing.
When asked if any individuals involved with the withdrawal would be fired, Mr. Kirby said the report “is not accountability.”
