House Republicans released a report criticizing the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden administration on Monday.
The report asserted that the administration was determined to leave Afghanistan “with or without the Doha Agreement” regardless of the cost.
The big picture: The report accused the Biden administration of prioritizing optics over the actual security situation on the ground, misleading the public at every stage of the withdrawal and failing to be fully transparent about issues that plagued the process.
- Republicans highlighted that the administration ignored warnings from senior military officials and failed to plan for the security of diplomatic personnel once troops left, resulting in the chaotic withdrawal and leaving behind $7 billion in U.S.-funded weapons and equipment.
- They also said the State Department disregarded advice from senior military officials who said the administration’s timeline for withdrawing was to short.
Go deeper: The report also tied Vice President Kamala Harris to the withdrawal, saying she worked in lockstep with President Biden behind the scenes to withdraw all U.S. troops and criticizing her handling of the situation.
- House Republicans said that the White House has not been fully transparent with the withdrawal.
What it says: “Mr. Biden has demonstrated distrust of America’s military experts and advisors and has prioritized politics and his personal legacy over America’s national security interests,” the report said.
- The report continued, “The Biden-Harris administration misled and, in some instances, directly lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal, from before the go-to-zero order until today.”
- Further the report said the administration was adamant about keeping the U.S. embassy in Kabul open despite warning signs that the Taliban would quickly take over.
- “This report proves senior Biden-Harris administration officials were willfully blind to warnings about the degrading security situation on the ground given to them by U.S. military personnel, U.S. intelligence assessments, American and international media reports, and State Department personnel in Kabul,” the report said.
The other side: “Everything we have seen and heard of Chairman McCaul’s latest partisan report shows that it is based on cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterizations, and pre-existing biases that have plagued this investigation from the start,” the White House said in a statement.
