In a 12-page report, US admits mistakes in Afghanistan withdrawal

The US administration has indirectly acknowledged that America’s controversially chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021 could have occurred sooner and that the risks of a Taliban takeover could have been more effectively broadcast before the group overran the Afghan government.

These admissions were made in a 12-page unclassified summary of a government review of the withdrawal, released on Thursday to accompany the announcement that the Pentagon and State Department will be sharing with Congress their own after-action reports on the 2021 military exit.

The unclassified summary of the withdrawal review contains references to two subsequent policy changes that indicate the administration should have begun the evacuation of Americans sooner and that the risks of a Taliban takeover should have been better communicated.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for its part, criticized the White House’s comments about the withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing it as “disgraceful.”

The US withdrawal, which ended on August 30, 2021, shocked the Americans and US allies after the Taliban overcame Western-trained Afghan forces within weeks, forcing the last US forces to rush out of the country from Kabul airport.