Another review is underway on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan – this time it will be conducted by the Department of Defense. These reviews have generally been politicized, depending on who is conducting the review. The Biden White House released a report in 2023 where they largely blamed President Trump for the terms of his negotiated Doha Agreement with the Taliban in February 2000. This current review being done by DOD will most likely cast much of the blame on former President Biden.
Secretary Hegseth released a statement (DOD, May 20, 2025) where he has directed the Department of Defense to conduct a review of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The lead off sentence in the DOD press release kind of tells you where this is heading:
“Three and a half years ago the Biden Administration’s disastrous and embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and 170 civilians in a suicide bombing at the Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate. President Trump promised accountability for what transpired during that military withdrawal, and I am committed to delivering on that promise.”
Senior Advisor Sean Parnell, the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, will convene a Special Review Panel for the DOD to investigate the withdrawal. Parnell served in Afghanistan where he was wounded in action.
Biden White House Report 2023
On April 6, 2023, the Biden administration released a statement on the Afghan withdrawal (Afghan Report, April 7, 2023) that outlines the key decisions and challenges surrounding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The 12-page PDF covers the time period from when President Biden took office to the aftermath of the disastrous and chaotic withdrawal that was completed on August 31, 2021.
Other Reviews and Reports
Other investigations that looked into the Afghan withdrawal include one done by the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee in September 2024 entitled Willful Blindess: An Assessment of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Chaos that Followed. The Democrats on the committee released their version of the investigation as well, called the minority report. The U.S. Department of State released a report in March 2022 entitled After Action Review on Afghanistan: January 2020 – August 2021. Many critics say this was just another attempt to whitewash the State Department’s inepitude in its handling of the evacuation.
Abbey Gate
A major theme of the Republican attack on the Biden Administrations handling of the withdrawal and subsequent evacuation of Kabul airport was the death of U.S. servicemembers at Abbey Gate – one of the entry ways for Afghans seeking evacuation from Hamid Karzai International Airport. The terrorist bombing attack killed 13 U.S. servicemembers, wounded another 45, and killed more than 170 Afghan civilians who were gathered at the gate seeking entry. The Central Command review on the Abbey Gate attack event was released in April 2024.
SIGAR Reports
Some of the more reliable reports that lack the political bias of most other reviews of the Afghan withdrawal have been conducted by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). This organization, set up by Congress, has existed for years. Its periodic reports are submitted to Congress on a quarterly basis; while special reports are submitted to Congress as they are completed. Two reports dealing with the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban are entitled “Why the Afghan Government Collapsed” (Nov 2022) and “Why the Afghan Security Forces Collapsed” (Feb 2023).
Afghanistan War Commission
The Afghanistan War Commission is a bipartisan legislatie commission established by the U.S. Congress in December 2021 to conduct a review of key decisions related to U.S. military, intelligence, foreign assistance, and diplomatic involvement in Afghanistan from June 2001 to August 2021. It has published its first report in August 2024 (PDF, 57 pages). The commission’s staff appear to be non-partisan in views and have the experience in and knowledge of the Afghanistan conflict to present a valuable resource for those looking for a comprehensive review of the conflict.
https://www.afghanistanwarcommission.senate.gov/
**********
Negotiated Withdrawal. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was negotiated between the Trump administration and Taliban representatives with an agreement signed in February 2020 in Doha, Qatar. The agreement, with Zalmay Khalilzad (Wikipedia) as President Trumps envoy to Afghanistan handling the negotiations, became known as the ‘Doha Agreement’. The government of Afghanistan was excluded from the U.S.-Taliban deal which many critics say set the Afghan government up for failure once the withdrawal was complete. When President Biden became president in January 2021 later he inherited the terms of the agreement that mandated a May 2021 withdrawal date. Biden delayed the withdrawal by a few months but did follow through with the agreement.
A Faulty Agreement? Many national security observers thought the U.S.-Taliban deal was a faulty one (Hoover Institution, 2021) that favored the Taliban, tied the hands of the Biden administration, and ensured that the Afghan government would fall once the U.S. withdrew. The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) published its Afhanistan Study Group Final Report: A Pathway for Peace in Afghanistan in February 2021. The report made several recommendations to include extending the May 2021 withdrawal date, continued support for the Afghan government, and more.
A Disastrous Departure. Although Biden was executing the withdrawal as negotiated by the former Trump administration, he and his administration have been heavily criticized for the way in which the withdrawal was conducted. In the spring and summer of 2021, the Afghan government forces rapidly gave way to the Taliban advance through all the provinces until only the outskirts of the capital city Kabul was held by government troops. The U.S. began, much too late, a hurried evacuation of U.S. citizens and embassy personnel from the Hamid Karzi International Airport in Kabul. Thousands of frantic Afghans, some with ties to the U.S. military, stormed the airfield in hopes of flying out on military aircraft. The evacuation was marred by a terrorist bombing that cost the lives of 13 U.S. servicemembers. The disastrous withdrawal would leave a black mark on the Biden administration.
So a New Report? This new review by the Department of Defense on the withdrawal from Afghanistan will likely add no new information to the abundance of reports, reviews, essays, and more generated by various government entities (Congress, DoS, DoD, etc.), academics, former members of the military and national security establishment, authors, or the media. It will be another partisan effort to assign blame for the failure in Afghanistan to one presidential administration rather than be a holistic look at the failures of all of the past administrations since 2001.
**********
SECDEF memoradum, May 20, 2025, “Departmental Review of the U.S. Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan 2021”, PDF, one page.
https://media.defense.gov/2025/May/20/2003719398/-1/-1/1/DEPARTMENTAL-REVIEW-OF-THE-US-MILITARY-WITHDRAWAL-FROM-AFGHANISTAN-IN-2021.PDF
