Report blames Trump for chaos in Afghanistan

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As of 07.04.2023 08:30 AM, the US government has released a report regarding the rushed withdrawal of US military from Afghanistan, blaming former President Donald Trump for much of the perceived failure. President Joe Biden’s government, led by the National Security Council, wrote the twelve-page report based on various intelligence services. It stated that Trump had “heavily constrained” Biden’s decision-making in terms of how to conduct the withdrawal.

When Biden took office, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001, and there were only 2,500 American soldiers left in Afghanistan, the lowest number since 2001. Additionally, state agencies necessary for a coordinated withdrawal were in a “poor state” due to “four years of neglect and, in some cases, intentional degradation.”

The report stated that in February 2020, the US had promised to withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021, with the Taliban agreeing not to attack US troops in return. Biden was then faced with this tight timeline, or else the Taliban would have attacked US and allied forces.

Trump responded to the report, accusing Biden’s government of playing a “new disinformation game” to distract from their “grossly incompetent surrender” in Afghanistan. He said, “Biden is to blame, no one else!”

The report also criticized the overly optimistic intelligence assessments of the readiness of the Afghan army. Biden followed the military’s recommendations regarding the pace of the US troop withdrawal.

The result of the events in Afghanistan has led to adjustments in US policy to enable faster evacuations if security conditions deteriorate, with Ukraine and Ethiopia being cited as examples.

The international military operation in Afghanistan ended with the withdrawal after almost 20 years. It is considered the longest war in US history. Biden faced significant criticism after the withdrawal, and the last US troops left Afghanistan at the end of August 2021. Dozens of Afghans and 13 American soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack outside the Kabul airport during the evacuation operation. The attack was claimed by the Taliban’s rival, the Islamic State.