US launches new probe into Afghanistan withdrawal

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon would launch a full-fledged review of the organization and implementation of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in August 2021.

A statement published on the department’s website emphasized that the department had been examining the details of the operation, particularly the situation at Kabul International Airport, for three months.

In his memorandum, Secretary Hegseth stated, “We must ensure accountability for this event.”

The management of the review process has been assigned to Sean Parnell, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.

A commission of experts will be assembled under Parnell’s leadership. It is known that the commission will include former Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller, one of the most active critics of the senior military command, who was dismissed in October 2021 on charges of insubordination, and publisher Jerry Dunleavy, who wrote a book about this operation.

The final phase of the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan occurred in August 2021, following weeks of rapid advances by Taliban forces against the Afghan government forces led by then-President Ashraf Ghani (2014-2021).

During these events, when Ghani fled Kabul, 13 US soldiers and 170 civilians lost their lives.

The world press published striking images of Afghans running after American cargo planes, with some clinging to the landing gear and falling to the ground.

The timeline for the withdrawal of US troops from the country was decided during Donald Trump’s first presidency (2017-2021) in 2020, as a result of negotiations between Americans and the Taliban mediated by Qatar.

At that time, it was decided that the entire operation would be completed within 14 months, by May 2021.

The termination of the American presence in Afghanistan became one of the most popular points of criticism used by Republicans and then-President Trump against the administration of current President Joe Biden (2021-2025).

For example, they likened this situation to the American escape from Vietnam in the spring of 1975. However, critics more often raised the military administration’s decision to close Bagram Air Base (explaining their criticism on the grounds that evacuation from the base would be safer and more effective than using a civilian airport) and the significant amount of military equipment and ammunition, from artillery systems to aircraft, that was left behind and ultimately fell into the hands of the Taliban.

The approximate cost of the equipment left behind is stated to be around $7 billion.

This review, planned by Hegseth, is not the first attempt by the American government to investigate the failed troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

For example, in September 2024, Republicans and Democrats in Congress prepared two separate reports examining the causes of errors during the operation.

The Pentagon conducted another review from September 2023 to April 2024.

Additionally, a detailed review of the troop withdrawal process from Afghanistan (January 2020 – August 2021) was prepared by the US Department of State in March 2022.