A comprehensive report released by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Sunday has sharply criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, highlighting the abandonment of $7.1 billion in military equipment and technology. The report, the result of a nearly two-year investigation, also details how some of this equipment, including biometric devices, has since been exploited by the Taliban to target Afghans who supported the U.S. and its allies.
The 354-page report, produced by the Republican-led panel, challenges the administration's repeated assertions that most U.S. military equipment was either destroyed or retrograded before the final withdrawal. While it is true that much of the U.S. military's own equipment was dealt with appropriately, the report points out that billions of dollars in arms and matériel provided to the Afghan military were left intact. This equipment fell into the hands of the Taliban following the swift collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021.
"When questioned about the weapons left behind, [U.S. Forces Afghanistan commander Gen. Austin Scott] Miller informed the committee that those were the property of the Afghan government and had been provided pursuant to U.S. security assistance to the Afghan forces," the report stated. Miller noted that the expectation was that these weapons were "going to be used, not abandoned."
However, the report criticizes the administration for failing to anticipate the rapid fall of Kabul to the Taliban, a scenario that even lower-level officials believed was inevitable. Greg Sherman, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, stated, "It did not take a crystal ball," to see that the Afghan government would likely collapse, yet the administration did not plan adequately for this outcome.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, responding to the report on Monday, denied that there was any handover of U.S. equipment to the Taliban. "That equipment had been provided to Afghan security forces appropriately and with congressional approval over the course of two decades of war," Kirby said. He further emphasized that the collapse of the Afghan military "moved a lot faster than anyone anticipated," including top military officials.
The report also sheds light on the dangers posed by advanced U.S. technology left behind, particularly biometric devices. These devices, used to store fingerprint, iris, and facial data, have reportedly enabled the Taliban to identify and target Afghans who worked with the U.S. or NATO. "American technology has empowered the Taliban to systematically target Afghan allies," the report states, underscoring the grave risks to those left behind.
The implications of this technology falling into Taliban hands are severe. The report notes that the Taliban has used these devices to go "door to door" checking fingerprints, resulting in the torture and execution of those found to have collaborated with U.S. forces. The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), emphasized the gravity of this situation in an interview with MSNBC, stating that the failure to secure this equipment has had deadly consequences.
In addition to the military hardware and technology, the report criticizes the chaotic nature of the evacuation, which led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a suicide bombing during the final days of the withdrawal. The report attributes much of this chaos to the administration's hesitancy and lack of coordination among various agencies, including the failure to heed recommendations to maintain a small military presence in Afghanistan until a more stable evacuation plan could be executed.
The White House, however, has pushed back against the findings of the report, labeling it as partisan and accusing the committee of selectively using facts to support a pre-determined narrative. "Chairman McCaul's latest partisan report is based on cherry-picked facts, inaccurate characterizations, and pre-existing biases that have plagued this investigation from the start," a White House statement read. The administration continues to defend its decision to end the 20-year war, arguing that the withdrawal was the right move for the country.
As the debate over the Afghanistan withdrawal continues, the House Foreign Affairs Committee has indicated that its investigation is not over. McCaul has vowed to use "every tool" at his disposal to obtain further testimony from key administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in an effort to fully understand the decisions that led to what the report describes as a disastrous exit.
The report also includes recommendations for preventing similar occurrences in the future, such as codifying Noncombatant Evacuation Order (NEO) authorities and reestablishing a crisis response bureau within the State Department. These measures, the committee argues, are essential to ensuring that the U.S. is better prepared for any future military withdrawals.
