An investigation into the chaotic 2021 withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, led by the National Security Council, places heavy blame on former President Donald Trump, claiming that President Joe Biden encountered “severe constraints” imposed by his presidential administration’s decisions. predecessor.
The White House on Thursday released a 12-page summary of the results of so-called “hot washing” of US moves to end the country’s longest-running war, taking scant responsibility for its actions during some of the moments. bleakest of the Biden presidency.
The government said most of the investigations, confidentially transmitted to Congress on Thursday, were secret and would not be released to the public.
“President Biden’s decisions to execute the withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by the conditions created by his predecessor,” the White House summary reads. He notes that when Biden took office, “the Taliban were in their strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half the country.”
Republican lawmakers have strongly criticized the withdrawal from Afghanistan, noting the death of 13 soldiers in a suicide attack at the Kabul airport.
The report points to “deliberate debasement” by the Trump administration, an accusation that Kirby says refers to the reduction of US troops during Trump’s tenure, the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners, the brokering of ” Doha agreement” to end the war without local government and a virtual freeze on an Afghan visa program.
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, after the former Western-backed government in Kabul collapsed with astonishing speed and the last American soldiers withdrew. During Trump’s tenure, the United States made a deal with the taliban islamists to withdraw all US forces.
“The United States has a stronger strategic foundation, better able to support Ukraine and meet our security commitments around the world, as well as compete with China, because it’s not fighting a ground war in Afghanistan,” Kirby said.
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