E-Paper
Sign In
Biden review of chaotic Afghan withdrawal blames Trump
US president was 'severely constrained' by the decisions of his predecessor, says report
- PUBLISHED: Thu 6 Apr 2023, 10:26 PM
- By:
- AP
A US review led by the National Security Council of the chaotic 2021 withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan largely lays the blame on former president Donald Trump, saying President Joe Biden was “severely constrained” by the decisions of his predecessor.
The White House on Thursday publicly released a 12-page summary of the results of the so-called “ hotwash ” of US policies around the ending of the nation's longest war, taking little responsibility for its own actions during some of the darkest moments of Biden's presidency.
Recommended For You
The administration said most of the after-action reviews, which were transmitted privately to Congress on Thursday, were highly classified and would not be released publicly.
“President Biden's choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor,” the White House summary states, noting that when Biden entered office, “the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.”
The report does fault overly optimistic intelligence community assessments about the Afghan army's willingness to fight, and says Biden followed military commanders' recommendations for the pacing of the drawdown of US forces.
The White House asserts the mistakes of Afghanistan informed its handling of Ukraine, where the Biden administration has been credited for supporting Kyiv's defence against Russia's invasion. The White House says it simulated worst-case scenarios prior to the February 2022 invasion and moved to release intelligence about Moscow's intentions months beforehand.
“We now prioritise earlier evacuations when faced with a degrading security situation,” the White House said.
In an apparent attempt to defend its national security decision-making, the Biden administration also notes that it released pre-war warnings over “strong objections from senior officials in the Ukrainian government.”
Republicans in Congress have sharply criticized the Afghanistan withdrawal, focusing on the deaths of 13 service members in a suicide bombing at Kabul's airport.
Former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was badly wounded in the explosion, told a congressional hearing last month that the withdrawal “was a catastrophe” and “there was an inexcusable lack of accountability.”