House Republicans unveil report condemning President Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan

President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021 – the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – has been met with strong criticism from Republican members of the US House Committee on Foreign Relations.

In a new 151-page report titled “A Strategic Failure: Assessing the Administration’s Afghanistan Withdrawal,” the lawmakers paint a dire picture of the consequences of the withdrawal, citing worrisome trends including the oppression of Afghan women and abandonment of allies.

The report supplements similar conclusions in a February 2022 report by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee titled “Left Behind: A Brief Assessment of the Biden Administration’s Strategic Failures during Afghanistan Evacuation.”

Both reports are highly critical of the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, arguing that the move will have devastating consequences for the Afghan people, especially women and girls.

The House report notes that “the administration has failed to articulate a strategy for protecting these gains or ensuring that the Afghan government can survive the Taliban’s inevitable return.”

The Senate report is even more scathing, declaring that the withdrawal is “a reckless abandonment of our partners and an enormous victory for America’s enemies.”

Both reports make clear that the decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is a deeply controversial one, and it remains to be seen how the Afghan people will fare in the aftermath of the US withdrawal.

According to the report, only 36 State Department officials were present at the airport to process Afghans who were trying to flee, despite the department’s claims that they had surged resources to handle the crowds.

The report is expected to be critical of the administration’s handling of the withdrawal, and could potentially hinder Biden’s ability to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.

The report comes as the administration is facing increasing pressure to explain why it did not provide more resources and personnel to the Kabul airport during the evacuation.

Biden has defended his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying that it was time for the United States to ‘end its longest war.’ But the administration has come under fire for the way it has handled the withdrawal, with many critics saying that it was rushed and poorly planned.

The House Republicans’ report is expected to add to the criticism of the administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.