The White House document included more findings than the State Department review
The 2004 Afghanistan War Report by the U.S. Senate Minority Leader John J. Biden: a “severally constrained” withdrawal
Decisions taken by Trump’s administration “severely constrained” Biden’s options for the withdrawal, the summary reads. It says Biden inherited a situation in which “the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.”
The 12-page summary document does not overtly admit any mistakes. It acknowledges some of the lessons that have been learned since, such as the speed at which people are evacuated. And it cites intelligence that provided overly rosy projections of the security situation and notes Biden followed recommendations from his military commanders in executing the withdrawal.
The summary ardently defends Biden’s decision to order a complete withdrawal, which he has justified as necessary to end the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan.
The White House promised to give Congress the information following the chaotic and bloody withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, which included a deadly bombing at Kabul International Airport.
In remarks describing the summary of the report, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby defended Biden’s decision to withdraw and stressed the work the administration did once they took office.
President Biden led a rigorous decision-making process that was in line with facts on the ground despite not being able to use his options. Kirby said that he focused on the need for proper planning.
There were no signs that more money, time or Americans at risk in Afghanistan would lead to a different trajectory.
Much of the chaos surrounding the withdrawal involved attempts to withdraw Americans and Afghans who assisted the war effort, including translators. Desperate Afghans were clinging to an American plane as it was taking off, and later falling to their deaths.
After the chaotic attempts to evacuate US citizens and those who assisted the American war effort, the administration said it now works to facilitate departures earlier in other situations.
“We now prioritize earlier evacuations when faced with a degrading security situation,” the summary states, using the war in Ukraine as an example of earlier evacuations.
The State Department After-action Report on the Afghanistan Destroy, Revisiting, and Preparing for the 2020 Afghanistan Outage Crisis
The State Department’s review of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has far more findings in it than the document about the withdrawal that the White House released Thursday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the report.
The after-action report was commissioned through the National Defense University, a defense official told CNN. The NDU is funded by the Defense Department, but officials have characterized the review the NDU carried out as “independent.”
A bombing outside the Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate also killed 13 US service members – 11 Marines, 1 soldier and 1 sailor – along with approximately 170 Afghans.
Republicans have begun their investigation after taking control of the US House of Representatives.
But it is unclear why the White House document assessing the challenges and decisions surrounding the withdrawal did not cite the wide number of recommendations from the State Department report, which was the result of an intensive 90-day review. The NSC had a document that was informed by the various departments’ reviews, according to a spokesman.
When there is a destabilizing security environment the US government now uses aggressive communication about risks, according to the White House document.
The State Department’s much more detailed after-action report was sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday, but otherwise the department has not widely released any of the findings more than a year after the report’s completion. In December 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken launched the report. The employees who were part of the chaotic evacuate demanded information from the department about the findings of the after-action report.
The department created a town hall for employees to discuss the report with top officials, including Under Secretary for Management John Bass, who was a key official in the Afghanistan withdrawal.
The report was described to employees by Blinken. He said that it detailed the processes, systems and mindsets that could have been improved, including the need for more urgent preparations for worst-case scenarios, employees said.
Blinken said contingency preparations were inhibited by concerns that they would be too visible and would prompt concerns by Afghan officials, employees told CNN. The top US diplomat pointed to conflicting views in Washington regarding how to prioritize categories of evacuees, as well as the fact that the department’s database technology and communications infrastructure were inadequate.
According to the employees, the report makes 34 recommendations. They include strengthening the department’s crisis-response capabilities, appointing a single senior official for future complex crises, enhancing crisis communications such as call centers, building a so-called red team to challenge assumptions and running more tabletop exercises, employees said.
Many employees were frustrated by the lack of transparency in the town hall. The source familiar with the full report explained that the findings were purposefully not classified so they could be widely shared if the department chose to do so, but so far that has not happened.
At least one employee was emotional during the town hall, criticizing how hastily it was arranged and the decision not to share the full report. Blinken cited concerns about politicizing the report and looking backward instead of forward, employees said.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment regarding the town hall or any plans to share parts of the department’s report more widely.
