The US administration handed over to Congress secret materials of an intra-agency “post factum analysis” of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, which became the subject of an investigation by lawmakers, the White House and the Pentagon said.
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The documents, which may shed light on the miscalculations of the military, politicians and diplomats in the final stage of the 20-year campaign, emphasize that the room for maneuver of President Joe Biden was “significantly narrowed down by the conditions created by his predecessor” Donald Trump.
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“These documents are sensitive and secret. We took the extraordinary step of deciding to share them with Congress, relevant committees and their leadership … We were not obliged to do this, but the president made (such a decision),” the strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council John Kirb said.
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After taking control of the US House of Representatives in January, the Republican opposition began investigating various episodes of the Democratic administration’s activities, including the end of the 20-year US campaign in Afghanistan.
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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that a post-factum analysis of the Pentagon’s implementation of US policy in Afghanistan in the period from January 2020 to August 2021 is being submitted to Congress.
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Kirby also said that the materials that congressmen will receive include, among other things, the terrorist attack at the Kabul airport, where 13 US military and dozens of Afghans were killed on August 26, 2021.
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Defending the decision to withdraw troops, he added that the United States could hardly have given such an effective rebuff to Russia in Ukraine and so strengthened its geopolitical position in the confrontation with China if it had remained involved in the conflict in Afghanistan.
