A US government report on the chaotic withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan in 2021 blames former President Donald Trump and argues that his decisions “severely constrained” the current head of state, Joe Biden.
The White House publicly released this Thursday a 12-page summary of the results of the so-called “hot wash” (evaluation of the performance of a government agency after a major event) of United States (US) policy around the end of the the longest war in the country and took little responsibility for the decisions of the Biden presidency during the withdrawal crisis nearly two years ago.
The U.S. government said most of the post-action assessments, which were passed privately to Congress, were highly confidential and would not be made public.
“President Biden’s choices about how to conduct an Afghan withdrawal were heavily dictated by the conditions created by his predecessor”states the letter from the White House.
When Biden took office, things are moving forward, “the Taliban had the strongest military position since 2001, controlling or fighting almost half of the country”.
The report, led by the National Security Council, criticizes intelligence agencies’ overly optimistic assessments of the Afghan military’s readiness to fight and says Biden has followed military commanders’ recommendations about the pace of US troop withdrawal.
The White House claims that Afghanistan’s mistakes have shaped Ukraine’s approach, where the Biden administration has supported Kiev’s defense against Russian invasion.
The White House says it simulated worst-case scenarios ahead of the February 2022 Russian invasion and acted to release information about Moscow’s intentions months in advance.
Republicans in Congress have sharply criticized the withdrawal from Afghanistan, highlighting the death of 13 military personnel in a suicide bombing at Kabul airport.
Former Marine Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was seriously injured in the blast, told a congressional hearing last month that the withdrawal “was a catastrophe” and “there was an unforgivable lack of accountability.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby credited US forces for their actions in conducting the largest non-combatant air evacuation in history during the chaos of the fall of Kabul.
“They ended our country’s longest war”Kirby told reporters. “That would never be an easy thing to do. And, as the president himself said, it would never be low value, low risk or low cost.”
Since the US withdrawal, Biden has blamed Trump’s February 2020 deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, saying it prevented Americans from leaving the country.
The deal gave the Taliban considerable legitimacy and has come under fire from analysts, who accuse it of undermining the US-backed local government, which would quickly collapse a year later.
But the deal also gave the US the right to withdraw if the Afghan peace talks failed — which they did.
The deal committed the US to remove all troops by May 1, 2021. Biden postponed a full withdrawal until September, but refused to delay any further, saying it would prolong a war that is long overdue.
Source: DN
