WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – A Republican-led House Committee released its report on the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
A suicide bomb outside Kabul’s airport in August 2021 killed 13 U.S. service members.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee released its more than 350-page report on Sunday. Republican Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said the Biden Administration is to blame for the botched evacuation.
“This was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions,” said McCaul.
When the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years, it ended the longest war in the nation’s history. 13 U.S. serving members were killed and thousands of Afghan civilians who worked alongside our troops were left behind.
No conclusions were drawn as to what went wrong, but McCaul and other Republicans are accusing President Joe Biden for demanding a U.S. exit no matter the cost.
McCaul said, “We knew the day, the time. We knew the gate, Abbey Gate. Yet, these marines were sent in, unprotected, left out to dry by their government.”
Democrats in Congress say Republicans came to a predetermined, partisan result to their investigation. White House officials said the Trump Administration is to blame for the deal it struck with the Taliban.
“Ending wars is more difficult than starting them. President Biden knew that. He acknowledged that. But it doesn’t mean that the decision to end this one was wrong, or that the withdrawal wasn’t conducted as professionally and as bravely as was humanly possible, given the circumstances,” said John Kirby, National Security Council spokesperson.
Yet, Kirby would not say if he felt the withdrawal was a success or a failure.
He said, “Clearly, there were moments of great violence, and there were, moments of mission execution that didn’t go exactly the way we wanted it to go.”
Republicans say their investigation is not over and they still want to hear from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
On Tuesday, there will be a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the Capitol to honor the 13 service members who died.
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