Last July, the calls from trapped American citizens, Afghan friends, and fellow veterans I served alongside poured in with greater frequency and desperation.
The Taliban was quickly advancing toward Kabul, Afghan security forces were in retreat, and the Biden administration was providing minimal air support to halt the Taliban’s gains across the country.
Reports surfaced the month prior in June that the U.S. intelligence community assessed the Afghan government could collapse between six months to a year. In less than two months, the Taliban seized control of Kabul.
After 20 years of fighting, bloodshed and investment – Afghanistan reverted to the Taliban-controlled country that once provided a home to al Qaeda. In a matter of weeks, we were back to pre-9/11 days of Afghanistan.
NEARLY 1 YEAR AFTER AFGHANISTAN EXIT, GEN. KEANE SAYS ‘WE’RE RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED' IN 2001
What transpired during our withdrawal was fundamentally un-American. Americans and 13 Gold Star families deserve answers and accountability.
Why did our intelligence get it so wrong? Why did the Biden administration provide minimal air support to the Afghan forces as the Taliban advanced? Why did we abandon Bagram Air Base and leave behind dangerous terrorist prisoners? Why did we leave behind billions of dollars in military equipment? Why was no one held accountable for the terrorist attack that left behind 13 dead Americans and many other Afghan civilians or for the botched drone strike that killed innocent civilians?
We need answers on why American military personnel were forced to protect Hamid Karzai International Airport in a Taliban controlled city of 4 million people when Bagram Airbase would have been easier to defend and far better to coordinate evacuation flights. Why were independent veterans’ groups forced to step up to extract Americans and allies – a job the U.S. government should have done?
These are the questions that need to be answered now and not in the years to come.
Should Republicans win back control of the House of Representatives this November, the new speaker must prioritize thorough investigative hearings on the botched and bloody withdrawal. These need to be done in public and not through closed door sessions we’ve had over the last year.
Given the massive failures from our intelligence community, the Department of Defense, and State Department – these congressional investigations need broad jurisdictional oversight with the ability to subpoena all of these departments in a way that does not allow one department to blame the other.
The reckless abandonment of Afghanistan didn’t just hand over a strategically located country to a terrorist group. It provided yet another country for global terrorists to seek refuge and sent a clear message to our adversaries around the world that the U.S. would not stand by our allies.
As images of desperate Afghans falling from American military planes and videos of Taliban brutality surfaced, our image as international advocate for freedom was stained and our adversaries were emboldened.
REMEMBERING BIDEN'S AFGHANISTAN FAILURE ONE YEAR LATER
Even Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley conceded, "I think it certainly is possible" when pressed during a Senate hearing if our withdrawal from Afghanistan had impacted Vladmir Putin’s calculus when to invade Ukraine.
Chinese Communist Party officials, the Iran regime, and other adversaries certainly took note in their propaganda.
The Afghanistan commission spearheaded by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., will produce a report that covers the entire 20 years of the war in Afghanistan, thus diluting any effort to drill down on the withdrawal debacle. Further, the report isn’t due until December 2024, a timeline convenient for the Biden administration.
To this day, no major U.S. government official has been removed due to the chaotic withdrawal and the consequences that followed. Even the Dutch and British foreign ministers were pushed from their posts as a result of the mishandling of the withdrawal.
Yet President Biden hailed our exit as an "extraordinary success."
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The chairman of the Joint Chiefs and intelligence officials have testified that al Qaeda and ISIS fully intend to attack our country again and are developing the capability to do so with the Taliban at the helm.
A June report by the U.N. shows al Qaeda has increased its "freedom of action" in Afghanistan. While many Americans want to forget about the threat emanating from Afghanistan, these terrorists haven’t forgotten about us.
The recent strike killing al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri in Kabul is commendable but also leads to serious questions about why al Qaeda’s leadership is openly operating in Afghanistan as they were in 2001.
I fear another attack will emanate from Afghanistan and we will have to send our troops back with no regional allies or bases to support such a mission. Focused, public congressional hearings will provide further answers on how we can best prepare for that scenario by learning from the mistakes of this administration.
While the stain on our country will take years to recover, the least Congress can do is hold those responsible accountable and ensure that so much sacrifice in Afghanistan was not lost in vain.
