State Department denies lack of withdrawal planning in Republican Afghanistan report

The State Department backed the frantic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan in a new statement after House Foreign Affairs Republicans released a scathing 350-page report detailing the dysfunction and lack of planning leading up to the withdrawal.

Republicans have “issued partisan statements, cherry-picked facts, hidden testimony from the American people, and obscured the truth behind conjecture,” according to a statement released by a State Department spokesperson.

The report, led by State Department Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, disputed Biden He claimed his hands were tied by the Doha deal that former President Donald Trump struck with the Taliban, setting a summer 2021 deadline for a U.S. withdrawal, and placed much of the blame on a lack of planning by the State Department to get Americans and their allies out while there were still troops there to protect them.

“There are valid and important critiques of the two-decade war in Afghanistan and how it ended, which is why the Department has remained focused on evolving and growing from that point forward, learning important lessons, and making lasting changes to crisis operations,” the State Department said in its statement.

“The Department is prepared to work alongside any Member who demonstrates a serious interest in finding legislative and administrative solutions. However, we will not stand idly by while the Department and its staff are accustomed to advancing partisan agendas.”

Taliban fighters mark the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

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The ministry said the idea that a non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) plan was missing to end operations in Afghanistan is “one of the most persistent misunderstandings.”

The State Department only launched a NEO to begin expelling U.S. and allied personnel on August 14, as the Taliban marched on Kabul and a day before President Ashraf Ghani fled his country in a helicopter loaded with cash.

There were not enough troops present to begin Operation NEO before August 19.

The report places the blame for the situation on former Afghan ambassador Ross Wilson, who instead of reducing his presence, instead increased the embassy's presence as the security situation deteriorated – despite warnings from military officials.

The statement noted that the United States had planned for the embassy in Kabul to remain open after the evacuation – “a decision widely supported by Congress.”

“As U.S. military forces wind down combat operations, Department personnel plan to operate from Embassy Kabul to assist Americans and Afghan allies, coordinate diplomatic and development activities and investments, and help protect and advance U.S. national security interests after August 2021.”

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul officially closed on August 31, 2021, and has not reopened since.

The State Department said no one expected the Taliban's takeover to be so quick. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

The statement said that “execution of the NEO before [August 15] “It would have signaled to the Afghan people that the United States had lost all confidence in the Afghan government at the time and precipitated the very collapse we were seeking to avoid.”

The ministry admitted, however, that it had no idea that Afghanistan would fall so quickly to the Taliban. “Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse as long as U.S. forces remained there.”

McCaul's investigation found that the State Department had been repeatedly warned of the Taliban takeover but refused to reduce its presence in the region.

The ministry said it had been recommending Americans living in Afghanistan leave since March of that year.

A new GOP report placed much of the blame on the State Department's lack of planning to get Americans and their allies out while there were still troops there to protect them. (Crown copyright Ministry of Defence via Getty Images)

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“In total, between March and August, the Department sent 19 unique messages containing warnings to Americans living in Afghanistan to leave and offers of assistance, including financial assistance to pay for airfare.”

Despite these efforts, nearly 6,000 Americans remained behind when Kabul fell, most of them dual citizens, prompting an evacuation effort “of unprecedented scale and scope.”

McCaul claims the State Department left about 1,000 Americans in Afghanistan, but the State Department said it evacuated “nearly all” of the Americans by August 31.

The department said it helped evacuate another 500 U.S. citizens between Aug. 31 and the end of the year — and noted that it helped some 120,000 Americans, Afghans and third-country nationals flee the country in the last two weeks of August 2021.

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He also noted that when President Biden took office in January 2021, the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which provides visas to foreign nationals who assist U.S. missions abroad, had a backlog of 14,000 cases and “there had not been a single SIV interview in Kabul for nine months, since March 2020.”