A year after Kabul Joe Biden ordered the chaotic, disastrous pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have issued a devastating report that shows Biden and his gang repeatedly lied about the withdrawal and ensuing consequences.
Biden’s top advisors knew what would happen if the United States pulled out so quickly; i.e., that the Taliban would quickly defeat Afghan forces. As well, the Biden State Department failed to prepare for the withdrawal. But Biden ordered it despite the inevitable.
Worse still, the State Department is stonewalling House Republicans and refusing to answer questions and provide information about the disaster.
Biden “Aware” He Passed False 411
Biden said the unconditional withdrawal from the country “was based on many factors,” including these, says the executive summary in A “Strategic Failure:” Assessing the Administration’s Afghanistan Withdrawal:
• Consultations with and advice from both our allies and senior U.S. military advisors;
• A withdrawal was the only option if we did not want to go back to war with the Taliban;
• Afghan forces were capable of defending their country without any direct U.S. military support;
• The 2020 Doha agreement negotiated by the Trump administration forced the withdrawal; and
• The U.S. mission to kill Osama bin Laden and eradicate al Qaeda had been accomplished.
Committee Republicans believe “none of these claims were accurate,” and that Biden knew they were inaccurate when he announced the withdrawal in April last year.
In fact, U.S. military leaders and NATO allies favored a “continued conditions-based deployment in Afghanistan,” and believed the best course was gradual withdrawal and “keep[ing] an advisory and counterterrorism mission in place that consisted of 2,500 U.S. military personnel along with 6,000 mostly NATO forces.”
Biden’s diplomats “agreed” with the approach, but the “president opted to reject their advice, instead pursuing an unconditional withdrawal, and citing the need to deploy ‘tens of thousands’ [of] additional U.S. troops to pursue the conditions-based approach.”
The U.S. military, the summary continues, did not agree with Biden’s claim, and, even worse, the “administration’s own internal assessments understood that the Afghan military would be unable to defend the country from the Taliban without American air support, military advisors, and contractors.”
Officials “repeatedly” warned Biden that the Taliban would prevail, and that al-Qaeda and other terrorists would resurface.
Failed to Prepare
Nor did the Biden administration adequately prepare for the evacuation itself. It was “so disorganized that senior leaders in Vice President Kamala Harris’ office and First Lady Jill Biden’s office, as well as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, requested assistance evacuating people inside the country” from outside veterans groups.
Beyond that, the “State Department took very few substantive steps the prepare for the consequences that were expected,” the summary continues:
During that time, the Biden administration failed to secure agreements with any of Afghanistan’s neighbors that would allow the U.S. military to establish bases to allow for robust counterterrorism or intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations against a resurgent al Qaeda and ISIS-K. To this day, we still have no such basing agreements with neighboring countries.
[V]ery little was done to prepare for a Taliban takeover of the country or a resulting NEO [Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation]. Instead, the Biden administration waited until August 14, 2021, just hours before the Taliban seized Kabul, to begin making key decisions about evacuations, including the establishment of transit centers in third countries. This delay led to capacity issues during the evacuation which resulted in flights being suspended at various points and people being stranded in deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Military commanders have clearly stated there was an utter lack of urgency on the part of the White House, the National Security Council (NSC), and the State Department as it pertained to an evacuation, despite repeated dire warnings.
The summary also details the administration’s poorly planned evacuation of Afghans. As well, the Taliban has released militants and terrorists from prison who “now have the ability to train freely and to potentially access the over $7 billion of U.S. supplied weapons, ground vehicles, and aircraft they seized.”
Conclusion
The summary notes that Biden’s own people say the withdrawal was a “strategic failure” and “an ugly final phase.” Yet no one has been punished.
The summary also cites Biden’s claim that what occurred was inevitable: “The idea that somehow there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens.”
“Attempts to receive requested documentation and transcribed interview requests with key officials … have been ignored by the State Department,” the summary closes, and “and to date, the House Foreign Affairs Committee has only held one open, full committee hearing with a senior Biden administration official on the Afghanistan withdrawal.”
Democrats control the committee.
A forthcoming print edition of The New American will contain a complete report on the one-year anniversary of the Biden administration’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
