WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Biden and his administration released a 12-page document outlining the decisions and challenges they faced during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The White House is putting the blame on the former administration for the challenges they faced.
In August 2021, the American withdrawal from Afghanistan quickly turned violent and chaotic. While trying to evacuate people, a suicide bomber killed 13 US service members and many civilians. Video of an American plane taking off shows just how desperate people were to escape, climbing onto the plane and even falling after it took off. Within a matter of days, the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban took control.
The White House recently released a 12-page document of the government’s findings of the withdrawal. They’re taking little responsibility for executing the evacuation, but rather they’re placing blame on the former administration. They said former president Donald Trump had left the Biden administration with a date for withdrawal but no plan for executing it.
“While it was always the president’s intent to end that war, it is also undeniable that decisions made and the lack of planning done by the previous administration significantly limited options available to him,” said John Kirby, NSC spokesperson. “The president’s transition team asked to see plans for that removal. They asked to see plans for a security transition to the Afghan government and they asked to see plans to increase processing of special immigrant visas. None for forthcoming. Transitions matter. That’s the first lesson learned here.”
The summary does not directly say that officials made mistakes on evacuating the country but the document does say they have changed their policies to carry out such evacuations sooner when security conditions worsen.
Former Vice President Mike Pence said the Biden administration is trying to “shamelessly shift the blame for their disastrous withdrawal”.
