President Biden was determined to withdraw from Afghanistan, dismissing any advice against it, ignoring the Afghan government's requests, and overlooking concerns from U.S. allies. This was a key conclusion from the House Foreign Affairs Committee's over two-year investigation into the chaotic and deadly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a report.
The scathing report, released Sunday, details what are claimed to be the mistakes that contributed to Biden's decision in April 2021 to bring an end to America's 20-year conflict. It also accuses three Biden administration spokespersons with withholding information from the American public by downplaying U.S. shortcomings, overlooking the Taliban's deceitful actions, and overstating the capabilities of Afghan forces.
Biden's Big Afghanistan Error
Instead they placed the blame on Afghanistan for the Kabul government's downfall. The report focuses its criticism on three key figures: Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson; Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Department of Defense spokesperson; and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who represents the president.
"During his decades-long tenure as a Delaware US senator, eight years as vice president of the United States and nearly four years as president, Mr. Biden has demonstrated distrust of America's military experts and advisors and has prioritized politics and his personal legacy over America's national security interests," the roughly 350-page report asserted.
The review said that Biden's administration repeatedly lied and misled the American public to gain support for his unwavering belief that the U.S. should rapidly end its 20-year war in Afghanistan, regardless of the consequences.
The previous administration under former President Donald Trump had established and signed the Doha Agreement with the Afghan government and the Taliban to bring an end to the U.S. involvement in the war.
However, Biden moved forward with his withdrawal plans with little regard for the agreement's terms—despite later blaming the document for leaving him with no choice, the report concluded.
The Doha Agreement, created in 2020, stipulated that the U.S. would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan if the Taliban fulfilled specific conditions.
For instance, the report noted that the Taliban was expected to "sever ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, halt attacks on U.S. and coalition forces, reduce violence against Afghan forces, and initiate talks with the Afghan government."
However, the document said that Biden's reckless and unwavering resolve disregarded these crucial aspects of the agreement.
Lying to the American People
On February 4, 2021, Price announced that the U.S. would initiate a review to determine the Taliban's compliance with the Doha Agreement, in order to assess whether the U.S. should proceed with its imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan.
However, "in his testimony before the committee, contrary to his public statement, Mr. Price asserted the Taliban's adherence to the Doha Agreement was in fact 'immaterial' to the Biden-Harris administration's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan," the document said.
The administration's "lies" and "misrepresentations" only continued, the report continued.
"Missing from press releases was information related to the Taliban's failure to adhere to the Doha Agreement, the ongoing presence of terrorism in Afghanistan, the capabilities of the Afghan government and military with and without U.S. support, and dissent from NATO allies on the US plan to withdraw," according to the report.
"The Taliban were in breach of key elements of the Doha Agreement, [though] the Biden-Harris administration claimed to be assessing the Taliban's compliance therewith," the report said.
"In reality, the conditions were entirely irrelevant to them."
Biden decided to proceed with a full withdrawal, despite almost every military official advising against it, according to the document.
"Despite President Biden's public assertions to the contrary, our investigation has revealed the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the commander of US Central Command, the secretary of state, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the commander of NATO's Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces-Afghanistan all advised against withdrawing all US troops from the country — both during and after the interagency review," the report said.
The Harris-Biden administration also disregarded the concerns of the international community, pushing forward despite objections from other NATO nations that had deployed troops to Afghanistan in support of the U.S.
Even prominent figures in Afghanistan urged against a complete U.S. withdrawal, arguing that the landlocked nation needed more time to prepare.
Overall, the report depicted an administration intensely focused on the political image of the withdrawal, while failing to anticipate and plan for even foreseeable situations.
