Biden's Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal is a Key Issue

The US spent 20 years in Afghanistan, and up until August of 2021, aside from key events like Green Berets on horseback or the devastating losses during Operation Red Wings and Extortion 17 missions, most Americans probably knew little about Afghanistan aside from those events or stock images of soldiers firing weapons. This changed entirely in August 2021 during the Biden Administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Americans recall the horrifying images of Afghans clinging to the landing gears of American military aircraft and falling from the sky upon takeoff from Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) in Kabul. The images of mothers throwing their babies over razor wire to U.S. Marines captivated and horrified the American people, many of whom certainly had forgotten that we were still at war in Afghanistan. As America watched the tragedy unfold, their attention was completely on Afghanistan when a suicide bomber infiltrated and killed 13 American troops at Abbey Gate – the deadliest day for US troops since Extortion 17 in 2011. Every American watching felt the sickening shockwaves of that unforgettable moment regardless of their politics. Abbey Gate immediately became a symbol of our disastrous failures in the Middle East over the last two decades. This tragedy, more than any other in our longest war, captured the attention and ire of the American people and is seared in our memory forever.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) recently completed its 15-6 military investigation and supplemental investigation. CENTCOM quietly published their final findings from the supplemental investigation via press release on tax filing day, April 15, 2024, stating that after the 1200 pages of documents and 50+ interviews, "The terrorist attack at Abbey Gate was not preventable." However, the investigation provided critical witness testimony, which is now part of the House Foreign Affairs Committee investigation. Read Chairman McCaul's response to CENTCOM's press release here.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee's comprehensive investigation of the Afghanistan withdrawal is the last opportunity for accountability for what happened at Abbey Gate during the withdrawal and, ultimately, every dead service member who died in the forever wars and ongoing operations in the Middle East. The committee released their fifth tranche of Afghanistan interview documents on May 1, 2024a, and is available here. The committee's interim Afghanistan withdrawal report is available here. The Republicans hold the majority and run the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They should use the power of the committee and the bully pulpit to convey Biden's failures and not miss this critical opportunity. If your representative serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, continue to encourage them to seek accountability in this investigation and use their media access to highlight the Biden administration's failures in the withdrawal. It is important to note that the House Foreign Affairs Committee is still accepting information regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal – and if you have information, you can share it with the committee here. If you or anyone you know anyone who has compelling information or testimony from Abbey Gate that was not interviewed or included in the investigation, this may be the last mechanism or opportunity to submit that information to the committee's investigation. If you feel uncomfortable submitting information on the form, contact the House Foreign Affairs Committee directly here and seek additional guidance.

Thus far, not one person has been held accountable for what happened to our service members, and not one person has been held responsible for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, the Biden Administration arrested the Gold Star father of Lance Corporal Kareen Nikoui, one of the 13 killed at the Abbey Gate bombing, at Biden's State of the Union speech.

Biden checks his watch during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base for one of the 13 fallen in the August 26, 2021 bombing at Abbey Gate, image taken by Saul Loeb, Getty Images.

The messaging on Afghanistan from the mainstream media has transitioned to a "it's Trump's fault" narrative just in time for the 2024 election. It's essential to keep the following key facts in mind:

1. President Trump announced the plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in 2019. The withdrawal was delayed due to the "Russian Bounties" narrative pushed by the media. On July 1, 2020, the Senate tabled Senator Rand Paul's amendment to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. On July 9, 2020, Secretary Esper and Gen. Milley briefed the House Armed Services Committee. They stated that Russian Bounties information was unfounded, not confirmed, and not connected to any US service member deaths in a briefing to the House Armed Services Committee. See testimony here.

2. Despite being delayed, President Trump re-negotiated a plan, the Doha Accords, with the Taliban and moved the withdrawal date to no later than May of 2021 (as written in the Doha Accords, "The United States is committed to withdraw from Afghanistan all military forces of the United States, its allies, and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel within fourteen (14) months following announcement of this agreement", on pg 1, part one, dated February 29, 2020). After the negotiation of the deal, dated February 29, 2020, there were zero hostile death casualties in Afghanistan (Operation Freedom Sentinel) until the Abbey Gate incident on August 26, 2021. Read more about the peace deal here.

3. After taking office, the Biden administration rejected the original plan and announced on April 14, 2021, that the US would begin the withdrawal on May 1, 2021, and complete it by September 11, 2021. Secretary Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense General Lloyd Austin echoed Biden's statements at NATO's headquarters in Brussels. The changes to this plan, where "Biden extended the withdrawal window from 14 months to 18 months," are also documented here, via testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Zalmay Khalilzad, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation during the Trump and Biden administrations, and the fall of Kabul.

4. Since the Biden administration backed out on the deal with the Taliban and disrupted the plan, this triggered a response by the Taliban, who began their offensive in May 2021 and quickly took over Afghanistan and captured Kabul by August 2021. Also, see here.

5. The Taliban offensive fomented a humanitarian crisis, which the Biden administration exacerbated.
 
6. The Biden Administration had many strategic failures, which included billions of dollars worth of US equipment that ended up in the hands of the Taliban, thousands of Americans abandoned  in Afghanistan, the deaths of Afghan civilians, the deaths of 13 service members and injury of 45 US service members.

It is essential to know that the Biden Administration backed out on the original deal and, due to many planning and execution failures, ended up with a crisis on the ground.

The media's goal is to brush past Biden's Afghanistan failure, bury the issue, and bypass any accountability for the humanitarian crisis and carnage they caused there. We must not let the media or the Biden Administration do that. It is a disgrace to the memories of our dead service members.  

Our national security state has marched our troops from one failure to the next over the past two decades, escaping accountability while lining their pockets every time. A tried-and-true tactic for escaping accountability is using the courage and honor of the troops and our fallen as shields to deflect criticism of the wars. As despicable as this tactic is, it has been effective. The over 20-year wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and ongoing operations in the Middle East have claimed the lives of 7,064 US Service Members and 21 US Department of Defense Civilians. The media and the Pentagon have become experts at squandering blood and treasure, bypassing failures and refusing to acknowledge them. The House Foreign Affairs Committee investigation is our final opportunity to set the record straight and gain accountability for the trillions spent and thousands of lives lost. There is still an opportunity to take action and demand accountability. Demanding accountability is one way to ensure that current and future leadership understand their profound responsibility to every service member and their families when sending them into danger to risk their lives for our country.

The above image is from the cover of the House Foreign Affairs Committee interim report on the Biden Administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Heather Kaiser is a former military intelligence officer and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is an independent researcher and analyst for defense, intelligence, and political matters. Heather earned a bachelor's in geopolitics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a degree in sculpture from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Since the 2020 riots, she has returned to research and analysis of current events for organizations such as American Contingency and Grayzone.

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