Review finds Biden administration ill-prepared for Afghanistan withdrawal.

The Biden Administration’s Lack of Preparedness for Afghanistan Withdrawal

The Biden administration faced criticism for its handling of the military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, particularly in the event of a deteriorating situation. A recently released review of the final months of the two-decade-long war highlighted the administration’s shortcomings.

The State Department published a 21-page after-action review (AAR) on Friday, focusing on the Biden administration’s final months in Afghanistan. While the AAR commended embassy officials and U.S. troops for their role in the massive evacuation operation, it also acknowledged the department’s lack of preparedness for the worst-case scenario.

“Concern about signaling a loss of confidence in the Ghani government also impeded preparations for a worst-case scenario in Washington and Embassy Kabul. Those concerns were not illegitimate, and Ghani himself even protested U.S. efforts to expedite the movement of SIV applicants, but the AAR team recognizes the need going forward to insulate worst-case contingency planning,” the report stated.

The report highlighted that both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden aimed to end America’s “forever wars,” with Biden delaying the withdrawal by a few months. However, the decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan had serious consequences for the Afghan government’s viability and security.

Experts believed that the Ghani government could sustain itself for weeks or months after the U.S. withdrawal, but the Taliban’s unexpected success in seizing territory proved otherwise. Despite years of arming and training the Afghan military, the government fell within a mere two weeks.

The Department of Defense had long been planning for a possible noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO), but the State Department’s involvement was hindered by a lack of clear leadership. The NEO began in mid-August after Kabul’s fall, leaving only two weeks before the military’s withdrawal at the end of the month.

During the evacuation, approximately 120,000 Afghans, including those who had worked with American troops, were evacuated. Thousands of Afghans gathered at the Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul, hoping to secure a spot on a western aircraft out of the country.

“The withdrawal and evacuation of more than 120,000 people from Kabul in two weeks was an extraordinary event — but our efforts to apply these lessons, focused on improved communications, resources, and preparedness, have strengthened our response to the full range of crises,” said Under Secretary for Management John Bass. “The Department of State has already acted on many of the After Action Review’s recommendations, strengthening our capacity and systems to respond to unexpected crises around the world, protect U.S. citizens abroad, and offer support to foreign nationals who work within and assist our diplomatic missions.”

On August 26, just days before the U.S. was set to leave Afghanistan, an ISIS-K operative carried out a suicide attack outside the airport gates, resulting in the deaths of approximately 170 people, including 13 U.S. service members. In response to intelligence of another imminent attack, U.S. Central Command launched a drone strike, but later admitted that the target, Zemari Ahmadi, had no terror ties and that innocent civilians, including children, were killed.

Republicans have been critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal, with the House, currently under Republican control, investigating the events.

“On April 25, I called upon the State Department to declassify its After-Action Review on Afghanistan within 60 days,” stated House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX). “The department failed to fulfill that request, instead choosing to release only a small portion of that document — 24 of 87 pages that were already unclassified — and completely omitted the narrative which forms the bulk of the report. There is no reason not to produce a declassified version of the full report, as much of it is marked ‘Sensitive but Unclassified’ or ‘Unclassified.’ This is another blatant attempt to hide the Biden administration’s culpability in the chaotic and deadly evacuation from Afghanistan.”

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