The White House released a 12-page review detailing their handling of the August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan which reignited a lot of criticism for the administration as they blamed the Trump administration for limiting President Biden’s after he took office.
Republicans were quick to criticize the Biden administration about their report and the comments made by national security spokesperson John Kirby. These comments and approach can widely also be seen as a preview of the oversight that the administration will have to face in the next few weeks as the House GOP seeks to investigate what happened during the U.S. withdrawal, during what was one of the lowest points in the Biden administration so far.
During the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration managed to evacuate around 100,000 allies and American cities from the country. However, the immediate fall of Kabul to the Taliban led to a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces.
A suicide bomber at the Hamid Karzai International Airport further complicated the evacuation as the bomb killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans. The airport had been crowded with people trying to leave the country.
The After Action Review has acknowledged many of the difficulties of the withdrawal, however, it has also set up a number of points of contention that the House committees will be looking into during their probes.
The role of the Trump administration in the withdrawal is also heavily featured in the report, with claims that the necessary preparation had not taken place.
