Joe Biden rejects US Army report on botched Afghan withdrawal, flawed White House strategy
www.republicworld.com
US President Joe Biden on Feb. 10 rejected the claims that his administration “failed to recognize” the gravity of the internal security situation in Afghanistan, and were reluctant to draft a safe evacuation plan for the US troops stationed in Kabul, the Americans, and Afghan allies. “There was no good time to get out of Afghanistan,” insisted the US commander in chief Joe Biden on Thursday, dismissing the investigative report based on testimonies from US military officers that were involved in Afghan evacuation efforts, and was published by the US Army.
The sworn testimony from the US Army officers was first reported by The Washington Post newspaper that spoke with military sources under the protection of the Freedom of Information Act.
The explosive investigative report focused on the chaotic evacuation led by the US armed forces at the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, and the circumstances that jeopardized the security of the troops. As many as 170 Afghans and 13 US service members were killed in the ISIS-K bomb blast, despite that the warnings of the looming terrorist act threat were conveyed to the US president, and was well known among the allies such as the UK that evacuated its troops the night before.
The US Army accuses Biden administration of “holding off” an evacuation plan, undermining the prospects of the collapse of the former US-backed Afghan government of then-President Ashraf Ghani, neglecting of a possibility of the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan, and not heeding terrorist attack seriously during the closing days of the frantic Kabul evacuations, citing “administrative failure”.
There was “immense pressure” on the American troops, and while there was no immediate response from the Biden administration, the Taliban swept into Kabul on Aug. 15 and had captured the entire country, including the Afghan Presidential palace, forcing the then leader Ashraf Ghani to flee. US commanders “had to enter into a security pact” with the Taliban for safe evacuations as the report criticised the Biden administration’s handling of the Afghan crisis. US President’s lack of attention to the Taliban gaining traction “undermined commanders’ ability to ready their forces,” the US Army testimony revealed.
US military had earlier pitched to use the Bagram Air Base for the evacuations, and sending Afghan government forces to help secure the road there, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Farrell Sullivan said in US Army report. But Biden administration ordered troops to exit US military’s largest defense base in Afghanistan and then ordered the evacuations via Karzai Airport for outbound flights.
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