US House Republican report blasts Biden over chaotic Afghan withdrawal

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Republicans will release a long-awaited report on Monday blasting Democratic President Joe Biden's administration for failures surrounding the chaotic and deadly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

The report contends that the administration made its decision to evacuate noncombatants far too late, formally ordering it only on Aug. 16, failed to communicate between departments in Washington and among officials in Afghanistan, and botched the paperwork for the departure of Afghan civilians eligible to leave the country.

It is the result of a three-year investigation led by Representative Michael McCaul, Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"America’s credibility on the world stage was severely damaged after we abandoned Afghan allies to Taliban reprisal killings — the people of Afghanistan we had promised to protect," the report said. "And the moral injury to America’s veterans and those still serving remains a stain on this administration’s legacy."

The withdrawal has become intensely politicized ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election. Last month, the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, shot video for his campaign at Arlington National Cemetery where he appeared at a ceremony honoring troops killed in the evacuation.

Trump has also attacked Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over the exit from Afghanistan during campaign appearances, blaming them personally for the deaths at Kabul airport's Abbey Gate. On Aug. 26, 2021, as U.S. forces were trying to help Americans and Afghans flee as the Islamist Taliban movement took control of the country, a suicide attack at the Abbey Gate entrance to Kabul's airport killed 13 Americans, compounding the U.S. sense of defeat after two decades of war.

Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee.

Democrats have insisted that some blame for the messy end of the war - less than seven months into Biden's presidency - should be laid at the feet of Trump, who began the withdrawal process by signing a deal with the Taliban in 2020.

"When former President Trump took office, there were approximately 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan. Days before leaving office, the former President ordered a further reduction to 2,500," Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs panel, said in a letter to committee Democrats about the investigation.

Republican committee aides dismissed that contention as partisan politics, saying Biden could have ignored Trump's agreement or enforced it, accusing officials who served during Biden's presidency of allowing the Taliban to disregard its commitments.

Some 800,000 U.S. servicemembers served in Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion triggered by the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the U.S. by Afghanistan-based al Qaeda.

During the war, 2,238 U.S. servicemembers died and nearly 21,000 were wounded. Independent estimates put the number of Afghan security forces and civilians killed at more than 100,000.

McCaul has subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken three times in connection with the Afghanistan investigation, most recently last week, saying that he wants him to testify in person.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by David Gregorio)