That Doha agreement set the stage for the withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan, which began in June 2020 with the reduction of troop levels from 13,000 to 8,600. It called for a complete withdrawal of forces, diplomatic personnel, contractors and others by April 2021. , a timeline that the Biden administration extended until the end of the summer.
But as the military began the final phase of US troop reduction, the Taliban were spreading widely across the country, rapidly capturing districts and provinces that stunned US officials and allies. The entire Afghan National Defense and Security Force – a cornerstone of the strategy to keep the Taliban at bay – collapsed within days, as senior Afghan officials, including President Ashraf Ghani, fled the country.
“The department is committed to understanding what worked and what didn’t in Afghanistan, and we want to incorporate that understanding into our planning and our strategic assessment,” Pentagon spokesman Major Rob Lodwick said in the statement.
On August 17, two days after Kabul fired barely a single shot at the hands of the Taliban, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said there would be “widespread hot water”. Sullivan vowed that the administration would “look into every aspect of it, from top to bottom,” promising to share the results of the analysis with the public.
Two weeks later, after the evacuation of US forces and personnel was complete, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “How we got to this moment in Afghanistan will be analyzed and studied for years to come.” , and we in the military will approach it with humility, transparency and candor. There are many tactical, operational and strategic lessons to be learned.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated that there would be a post-action review. “We want to make sure we learn every lesson that can be learned from this experience,” Austin said. He said it would happen “in the coming days”.
But in the weeks that followed, there was little public discussion about what went wrong and what could have been done differently. Instead, congressional hearings turned into partisan attacks, as Republican lawmakers trampled on the way the Biden administration was dealing with the withdrawal. Some even met with the top two Pentagon leaders and asked Austin to resign.
The review is now underway, as the administration is still working to understand other problems related to a full withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Pentagon did not identify the team that was selected to conduct the review, and there is no deadline or time frame within which it is to be completed.
“The team just started work last week, so I don’t have any additional updates at this time,” Lodwick said.
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