Austin congressman leads Republican criticism of Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan

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U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, led Republican criticism of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, accusing the administration of recklessness in the run-up to the Taliban takeover and covering up its mistakes later.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by McCaul, will release a full report on the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday, the culmination of a three-year investigation led by Republicans on the committee. The report, which was released to some interested parties and which The Texas Tribune and other media outlets obtained in advance of its release, accuses the Biden administration of ignoring warnings from its own staff, intelligence and allies, leaving American interests vulnerable to a Taliban takeover.

“The evidence demonstrates that President Biden’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops was not based on the security situation, the Doha agreement, or the views of his senior national security advisers or our allies,” the report said. “Instead, it was based on his long-standing and unyielding view that the United States should no longer be in Afghanistan.”

The U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 after 20 years in the country. The Afghan government collapsed shortly afterward, leading to the Taliban taking power, which rules the country to this day. The withdrawal was criticized by members of both parties for its rapid deterioration, leaving military and diplomatic personnel unprepared and becoming one of the biggest stains on Biden’s foreign policy record.

Withdrawing from Afghanistan has been a priority for every president since George W. Bush, and negotiations with the Taliban began under former President Donald Trump. Biden has called it one of his top foreign policy priorities, despite the costs to Afghanistan, saying the U.S. is no longer interested in the country.

“I did not intend to prolong this war forever, and I did not intend to prolong the withdrawal forever,” Biden said in a speech shortly after the withdrawal.

The State Department released its own analysis of the withdrawal in March 2022, acknowledging the challenges of the withdrawal, although it said the department followed the necessary procedures in evacuating 125,000 people from the country in unprecedented conditions. The department’s analysis also said the Taliban had gained strength in the Trump era, and that diplomats in Afghanistan felt constrained by the Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban that allowed the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and scheduled the withdrawal of U.S. forces after Taliban-Afghan peace talks, a view also echoed by the Biden-led National Security Council.

“President Biden’s choices about how to withdraw forces from Afghanistan were severely constrained by the conditions created by his predecessor,” the White House said in a summary of the National Security Council’s findings at the time.

Democrats criticized the McCaul report, saying it focused too much on the Biden administration’s role while ignoring the Trump administration.

“It’s a politicized, selective report that’s designed to do one thing, not shine a light on a tragedy that, by the way, I support 100 percent,” U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told CBS News’ Face the Nation. “And by the way, look at 20 years and four presidencies that have doubled down on Afghanistan policy. It’s going to be a blatantly partisan campaign.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee interviewed top administration officials, including former U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan Chief of Mission Ross Wilson and the chief U.S. negotiator with the Taliban, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. The committee staff also interviewed former State Department spokesman Ned Price and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who they said were complicit in misrepresenting the seriousness of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

McCaul led the committee’s investigation with committee Republicans, but staff from both parties were involved in fact-finding. In addition to interviews, the committee reviewed documents from the Defense and State departments and held a series of public hearings in the months since the recall.

McCaul has been the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee since 2019, but Republicans did not win a majority to give him the chairmanship until last year. He previously chaired the House Homeland Security Committee.

McCaul is a hawkish Republican who has been an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s foreign policy. He was a foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, though he broke away from his party’s isolationist wing by defending aid to Ukraine during its war with Russia. McCaul has often pointed to the country’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan as a sign of weakness that emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.

The report came out less than 60 days before the election and mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris by name. McCaul criticized Harris for supporting the president during the recall, stating in the report that she was a “participant” in the president’s decision-making process.

McCaul denied that the report was politically timed to the election, telling CBS News’ Face the Nation that “it took me two years to get to this point because of the obstacles.”

The report accused the Biden administration of placing too much faith in the Taliban as legitimate partners in negotiating the terms of the U.S. withdrawal. When the Biden administration took over the withdrawal negotiations from Trump, it failed to prepare for the collapse of the country’s government, leading to the chaotic evacuation of Americans and U.S. allies from the country, the report said.

The report details numerous delays in key responses to the rapidly deteriorating situation, including a call for the evacuation of non-combatants, a reduction in diplomatic staff in the country and the creation of evacuation paths, such as overseas permits for civilian flights and stopovers in other countries for evacuees. Troops and diplomatic personnel were also confused about who would be eligible for evacuation.

The report also identified security lapses that led to the bombing of the Abbey Gate outside Kabul International Airport. Reliance on the Taliban to protect the gate and a decision not to target the ISIS-K terrorist group in Afghanistan led to the attack, according to the report. The attack killed 185 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers, making it the worst attack on the U.S. military since 2012.

The report also summarized the consequences of the withdrawal, including human rights abuses by the Taliban. It left behind nearly $57 million in cash and $7 billion in weapons.

“When Kabul fell, many compared it to Saigon as U.S. helicopters again carried Americans away from the U.S. Embassy, ​​abandoning longtime allies,” the report said. “But this investigation reveals that what happened in Afghanistan was far worse — with long-term consequences that are far more dangerous to U.S. national security.”

McCaul’s investigation into the Biden administration will extend beyond the report. He has requested interviews with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a September date. McCaul has said he would be willing to call them to testify. Other administration officials spoke voluntarily after pressure from Republicans on the committee.

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