Republicans on Sunday released a highly critical report on the 2021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, implemented by Democratic President Joe Biden, which brought a chaotic end to America’s longest war.
In the document, written by Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the authors argue that Mr. Biden has “failed to limit the foreseeable consequences” of the withdrawal decided by the previous Trump administration.
The Taliban, in power in Afghanistan, seized the capital Kabul on August 15, 2021, after the collapse of the US-backed government. US troops left on August 30.
On August 26 of that year, a suicide bombing killed 13 American soldiers and 170 Afghans at Kabul airport, which was crowded with people trying to flee the country.
In their report, the Republicans highlighted concerns expressed by military officials that it was necessary to maintain a military presence in Afghanistan, where Washington launched a war in 2001.
The Democratic camp criticized the report, saying it was released to disrupt the November election.
“If they had three years to figure out what happened, why are they submitting a report after Labor Day (celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States, editor’s note), in the middle of a presidential election year?” asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, before the document was released.
“Look, this (Biden) administration has made a decision not to leave this war as a legacy to a fifth president and to end this conflict,” he said on CNN.
The authors said Joe Biden’s decision to implement the withdrawal in this manner was “based on his long-held and unyielding view that the United States should no longer be present in Afghanistan.”
According to them, the Democrat’s choice “was not based on the security situation” or on the “Doha (peace) agreement”, signed under the presidency of Donald Trump in 2020 and which provided for the withdrawal of troops. Nor on the advice of his “national security experts” or “his allies”.
Joe Biden has been repeatedly criticized for continuing the withdrawal process without imposing conditions on the Taliban, including a ceasefire between them and the ultimately toppled Kabul government.
Taliban offensives even increased after the signing of the peace agreement.
The military withdrawal has “increased threats to our national security, tarnished our international reputation for years to come, and emboldened enemies around the world,” the report’s authors wrote.
The document was released just over a week after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a controversial visit to a military cemetery, where he attended a ceremony honoring 13 soldiers killed during the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
An altercation broke out between Donald Trump’s team – who were trying to take photos of the event – and cemetery staff who were trying to enforce a federal law banning political activity on cemetery grounds.
