US review blasts failures of humiliating Afghanistan withdrawal

The US State Department has released a report on “detrimental consequences” of the country's humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, criticizing the government for its failure to prepare for the swift collapse of the Afghan government in 2021. 

The so-called After Action Review (AAR), released on Friday, said the decision made by US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan had "serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security”.

The US-backed Afghan government collapsed and its president Ashraf Ghani fled the country in August 2021 as the Taliban took over Kabul amid the chaotic withdrawal of US forces.

Friday’s review also faulted the Trump administration, namely for failing to address a backlog and other issues plaguing the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which offers a pathway for Afghans who worked with the US government to come to the country.

The report specifically criticized the State Department for failing to set up a crisis-management task force that could have overseen the situation in Afghanistan at the time as well as clearly cooperated with the Pentagon in the case of an evacuation.

It echoed the findings of the White House report, which stated that the Trump administration did not properly plan for the departure of American troops, despite authorizing the US withdrawal in a February 2020 deal with the Taliban.

“When the Trump administration left office, key questions remained unanswered about how the United States would meet the May 2021 deadline for a full military withdrawal, how the United States could maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul after that withdrawal, and what might happen to those eligible for the [SIV program] as well as other at-risk Afghans,” it said.

In April, the Biden administration released a review of the US exit from Afghanistan, admitting that there had been a massive intelligence failure in not predicting a rapid Taliban victory.

"Clearly we didn't get things right" on intelligence, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters then. 

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, despite the fact that no Afghan national was involved in the attacks. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans died in the US war of aggression on the country.

American forces occupied the country for two decades on the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban took over the capital Kabul with lightning speed in August 2021.

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