House Republicans have issued a report on their investigation into the United States's withdrawal from Afghanistan, blaming the disastrous end of America's longest war on President Joe Biden's administration. The partisan review that looked into the final months of military and civilian failures, minimised the role of former President Donald Trump, who had signed the withdrawal deal with the Taliban, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Trump administration's February 2020 withdrawal deal allowed Taliban to sweep through and conquer all of Afghanistan even before the last US officials flew out on August 30, 2021. The chaotic exit reportedly left behind many American citizens, Afghan battlefield allies, women activists and others at risk from the Taliban.
As per a report by CNN, the hasty exit saw the deaths of 13 US service members and left behind thousands of Afghans who had worked with the United States.
In its over 350-page document, House Republicans cite Vice President Kamala Harris' overall responsibility as an adviser to Biden but don't point to specific counsel or action by Harris that contributed to the many failures.
The report said that over 18-month investigation by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee zeroed in on the months leading up to the removal of US troops found that Biden and his administration undermined high-ranking officials and ignored warnings as the Taliban seized key cities far faster than most US officials had expected or prepared for.
As per the AP report, the House Republicans' report breaks little new ground as the withdrawal has been exhaustively litigated through several independent reviews. Previous investigations and analyses have reportedly pointed to a systemic failure spanning the last four presidential administrations and concluded that Biden and Trump share the heaviest blame.
As per Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, who led the investigation as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the GOP review found that the Biden administration “had the information and opportunity to take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government, so we could safely evacuate U.S. personnel, American citizens, green card holders, and our brave Afghan allies.”
"At each step of the way, however, the administration picked optics over security,” AP cited McCaul as saying. The Republican leader had earlier denied that the timing of the report's release ahead of the presidential election was political.
Meanwhile, White House spokesperson, Sharon Yang, said the Republican report was based on “cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterizations, and preexisting biases.”
“Because of the bad deal former President Trump cut with the Taliban to get out of Afghanistan by May of 2021, President Biden inherited an untenable position,” either ramp up the US war against a strengthened Taliban, or end it, Yang said in a statement.