President Joe Biden was “severely constrained” by the conditions created by President Donald Trump as he decided to move ahead with the complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, according to a summary of findings from an administration-wide after-action review released Thursday.
Classified findings from the reviews by the State Department and Pentagon were also transmitted to Congress on Thursday, fulfilling a White House pledge to provide the information following the bloody and chaotic withdrawal, which included a deadly bombing at Kabul International Airport that killed 13 US troops.
The 12-page summary document defends Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan while acknowledging certain lessons that have been applied since. It cites intelligence that provided overly rosy projections of the security situation and notes Biden followed recommendations from his military commanders in executing the withdrawal.
Overall, however, the summary describes a difficult situation made more onerous by Trump’s decisions when he was in office, including entering into an agreement with the Taliban requiring US troops to withdraw by May 2021.
“President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor,” the summary states.
The summary ardently defends Biden’s decision to order a complete withdrawal.
“There were no signs that more time, more funds, or more Americans at risk in Afghanistan would have yielded a fundamentally different trajectory,” the summary reads.
Yet after the chaotic attempts to evacuate US citizens and those who assisted the American war effort, the administration now works to facilitate departures earlier in other situations.
“We now prioritize earlier evacuations when…
Read the full article here