WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Sunday issued a scathing report on their investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, blaming the disastrous end of America’s longest war on President Joe Biden’s administration and minimizing the role of former President Donald Trump, who had signed the withdrawal deal with the Taliban.
The chaotic exit left behind many American citizens, Afghan battlefield allies, women activists and others at risk from the Taliban.
But House Republicans’ report breaks little new ground as the withdrawal has been exhaustively litigated through several independent reviews.
Previous investigations and analyses have pointed to a systemic failure spanning the last four presidential administrations and concluded that Biden and Trump share the heaviest blame.
McCaul earlier in the day denied that the timing of the report’s release ahead of the presidential election was political, or that Republicans ignored Trump’s mistakes in the U.S. withdrawal.
House Democrats in a statement said the report by their Republican colleagues ignored facts about Trump’s role.
Committee staffers noted reports since the U.S. withdrawal of the group rebuilding in Afghanistan, such as a U.N. report of up to eight al-Qaida training camps there.
The report by House Republican cites Harris’ overall responsibility as an adviser to Biden, but doesn’t point to specific counsel or action by Harris that contributed to the many failures.
The House report faults a longtime U.S. diplomat for Afghanistan, former Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, not Trump, for Trump administration actions in its negotiations with the Taliban.
‘We were still in planning’ when Kabul fell The report also goes into the vulnerability of U.S. embassy staff in Kabul as the Biden administration planned its exit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans released a damning report on their probe into the U.S. S. withholding information about the former president Donald Trump’s involvement in the withdrawal agreement he had signed with the Taliban and placing the blame for the disastrous conclusion of America’s longest war on President Joe Biden’s administration.
The partisan analysis details the last few months of civilian and military missteps after Trump’s withdrawal agreement in February 2020, which let the enemy, the fundamentalist Taliban in America, take over the entire nation even before the final U.S. s. On August 24, officials took off. December 30, 2021. Many American citizens, women activists, Afghan battlefield allies, and other people at risk from the Taliban were left behind by the chaotic exit.
However, since the withdrawal has been thoroughly contested through multiple independent reviews, the House Republicans’ report doesn’t really add anything new. Previous studies and analyses concluded that Biden and Trump bear the greatest share of the blame for a systemic failure that spanned the last four presidential administrations.
Republican Representative from Texas. The GOP assessment, according to House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul, “reveals that the Biden administration had the information and opportunity to take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government, so we could safely evacuate U.S. citizens.” McCaul led the investigation. s. personnel, green card holders, Americans, and our valiant allies in Afghanistan. “.
He said in a statement, “But the administration chose optics over security at every turn.”.
Earlier in the day, McCaul refuted claims that Republicans disregarded Trump’s errors in the U.S. or that the report’s release ahead of the presidential election was politically motivated. S. Retraction.
The Republican report, according to White House spokeswoman Sharon Yang, was founded on “cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterizations, and preexisting biases.”. “.
“President Biden inherited an untenable position because of the bad deal former President Trump cut with the Taliban to get out of Afghanistan by May of 2021,” either step up the U.S. s. fight a more powerful Taliban, or put an end to it, Yang stated in a statement.
Republicans’ report disregarded information regarding Trump’s involvement, according to a statement from House Democrats.
The months preceding the removal of U.S. officials were the focus of a more than 18-month House Foreign Affairs Committee investigation by Republicans. s. troops, claiming that as the Taliban captured important cities far more quickly than most U.S. officials, Biden and his administration disregarded warnings and undermined senior officials. S. Authorities had planned for or anticipated.
“I dubbed their advance ‘the Red Blob,'” said retired Colonel. Regarding the Taliban, Seth Krummrich informed the committee that, while serving as chief of staff at the special operations central command, “we tracked the Taliban advance daily, looking like a red blob gobbling up terrain.”. “.
Carol Perez, the acting undersecretary for management at the State Department at the time of the withdrawal, said of what House Republicans said was minimal State Department planning before leaving the embassy in mid-August 2021 when the Taliban overran Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, “I don’t think we ever thought — you know, nobody ever talked about, ‘Well, what’s going to happen when the Taliban come over the wall?'”.
After almost two decades of occupation, the U.S. S. and allies started to beat out the al-Qaida terrorists in charge of the Sept. attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001. Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaida, was given sanctuary in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Staff members of the committee took note of reports since the U. s. withdrawal of the unit reestablishing itself in Afghanistan, like a U. N. there were up to eight al-Qaida training camps reported.
The Afghan military and administration that the U.S. S. hoped to prevent the nation from once more serving as a base for anti-Western extremists, and had invested trillions of dollars and nearly 20 years worth of construction.
A 2023 study from the U.S. s. official monitoring agency for the U.S. S. highlights Trump’s agreement in February 2020 with the Taliban to remove all American forces and military contractors by the spring of the following year, as well as Trump and Biden’s resolve to continue withdrawing U.S. S. forces in spite of the Taliban’s breaching of the withdrawal agreement’s main terms.
The over 350-page document authored by House Republicans is the result of numerous hours of testimony, which included former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mr. Mark Milley, U. S. General retired from Central Command. Frank McKenzie and other high-ranking officials at the time—seven open forums and roundtable discussions in addition to the over 20,000 pages of State Department records examined by the committees.
Now that Biden is not seeking reelection, Trump and his Republican allies have attempted to use the withdrawal as a political point of contention against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president.
While acknowledging Harris’s general accountability as Biden’s advisor, the House Republican report makes no mention of any particular advice or deed by Harris that may have contributed to the numerous failures.
The report’s highlights include:.
Choice to pull out.
Republicans cite testimony and documents to support their claims that the Biden administration relied “severely limited” on input from military and civilian leaders on the ground in Afghanistan in the months prior to the withdrawal, with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan making the majority of the decisions without consulting important parties.
The White House spokesperson, Yang, refuted that, stating that the administration had consulted with representatives in Kabul and other places throughout the U.S. S. administration.
According to the report, Biden carried out the withdrawal despite the Taliban’s noncompliance with certain terms of the agreement, such as their pledge to hold negotiations with the then-U.S. S. Encouraged the Afghan government.
The report states that former State Department spokesperson Ned Price told the committee that Biden’s decision to withdraw was “immaterially affected” by the Doha Agreement.
Trump reportedly carried out the withdrawal agreement’s initial steps, severing the U.S. s. Despite early Taliban noncompliance with some aspects of the agreement and the Taliban’s increasing attacks on Afghan forces, the troop presence was reduced from approximately 13,000 to 2,500 in the end.
The House report criticizes an established U. s. The person who should be held accountable for the actions of the Trump administration in its negotiations with the Taliban is former Afghan ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, not President Trump. According to the new report, Trump made drastic cuts in U.S. military spending on the advice of American military leaders. s. military strength in Afghanistan following the signing.
“When Kabul fell, we were still in the planning stages.”.
Also covered in the report is U.S. vulnerability. s. employees of the Biden administration in Kabul as they prepared to leave. Republicans assert that the Biden administration’s “dogmatic insistence” to keep a significant diplomatic presence despite worries about staff members’ lack of security after U.S. s. The forces departed.
McKenzie was one of the two Americans. S. The report states that generals in charge of the evacuation informed lawmakers that the administration’s insistence on maintaining the embassy open and operational was the “fatal flaw that created what happened in August.”.
According to the committee report, State Department officials even went so far as to dilute or “even completely rewrite reports” from the Department of Defense and heads of diplomatic security that had alerted them to potential threats to U.S. s. personnel as the deadline for withdrawal approached.
When Kabul fell, “we were still in planning,” stated Perez, the senior U.S. S. diplomat, provided the committee with testimony.
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