The US State Department on Friday released its long-awaited Afghanistan After Action Review report, which outlines damning findings and criticizes both the Trump and Biden administrations for decisions that led to the deadly and chaotic US withdrawal from that country after nearly two decades on the ground.
The unclassified version of the report, which was publicly released more than a year after the 90-day review of the evacuation was completed, includes findings around the tumultuous final weeks of the US presence in Afghanistan, as well as a number of recommendations for improvement moving forward.
A senior State Department official did not explain why it had taken so long for the report to be published, nor why it was released before a holiday weekend, saying they would not discuss questions related to "process."
The Biden administration's frenzied withdrawal after 20 years of US involvement has come under immense scrutiny by predominantly Republican lawmakers. However, accusations about who was responsible for the chaotic final weeks have fallen largely along party lines, with Republicans pointing fingers at the Biden administration and Democrats, including the White House, casting blame on the Trump administration for the deal that set the US withdrawal into motion.
Notably, the State Department report released Friday stated that "the decisions of both President (Donald) Trump and President (Joe) Biden to end the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security."
"Those decisions are beyond the scope of this review, but the AAR (After Action Review) team found that during both administrations there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow," the report said.
This story is breaking and will be updated
