“Willful Blindness” – Report on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan with recommendations

The long-awaited report on the withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the death of 13 Americans has been released by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Majority’s report on the committee’s investigation into the US government’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the chaos and instability that followed is 353 pages with 18 formal recommendations.

The full report, “Willful Blindness: An Assessment of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Chaos that Followed,” can be found here.

Committee chair, Michael McCaul, said: “Our investigation reveals the Biden-Harris administration had the information and opportunity to take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government, so we could safely evacuate U.S. personnel, American citizens, green card holders, and our brave Afghan allies. At each step of the way, however, the administration picked optics over security. 

“… the U.S. government conducted an emergency evacuation without the necessary personnel, supplies, and equipment. The administration’s dereliction of duty placed U.S. servicemembers and U.S. State Department personnel in mortal danger, where the Taliban – our sworn enemy – became the first line of defense. As a direct result of the failure to plan for all contingencies, 13 U.S. servicemembers and 170 Afghans were murdered in a terrorist attack at Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021, and 45 U.S. servicemembers and countless Afghans were injured. This was preventable.

“It has damaged U.S. credibility. It has emboldened our adversaries, and it has made the United States more at risk of an attack emanating from Afghanistan. And the moral injury to our veterans and servicemembers is generational. The administration’s unconditional surrender and the abandonment of our Afghan allies, who fought alongside the U.S. military against the Taliban – their brothers in arms – is a stain on this administration.

“Anyone who reads this report will be able to see that we conducted this investigation with integrity, not drawing conclusion ahead of time but rather looking at the facts and evidence we collected. The report is simply a recitation of those facts and evidence. This is not about politics to me – it never has been. It’s about getting to the bottom of what happened so we can make sure it never happens again. And it’s about finding who was responsible for this catastrophe so they can finally, after three long years, be held accountable.

The chair said he hoped the report could have been released earlier – in 2021 or 2022, but blames Democrats in Congress for the delay. He said he had to aggressively push for documents and testimony continuously, acquiring them by subpoena or a threat of contempt of Congress.

“While this was a thorough and comprehensive investigation, there are still unanswered questions, and more information must be gathered if we are to ensure such a catastrophe never happens again. Stay tuned,” said McCaul.

The report includes recommendations – read them HERE: