The White House acknowledged that the tumultuous Afghanistan withdrawal underscored the need to better plan and more quickly implement evacuations from conflict zones in an after-action report.
(Bloomberg) — The White House acknowledged that the tumultuous Afghanistan withdrawal underscored the need to better plan and more quickly implement evacuations from conflict zones in an after-action report.
The US must “plan early and extensively for low probability, high-risk scenarios” — and has already shifted strategies in other conflicts including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House said Thursday. As part of the review, the administration released a twelve-page document and is sharing classified assessments from the Defense and State Departments with Congress.
The assessment acknowledged some of the shortcomings with the administration’s planning ahead of the 2021 withdrawal, even as officials levied criticism at former President Donald Trump. Taliban fighters quickly overwhelmed Afghan forces and prompted a chaotic exit. A terrorist attack at the Kabul airport resulted in the deaths of 13 US troops and 170 Afghans, and some American citizens were not evacuated for weeks.
Contingency planners need to make sure to “assess psychological factors” including local troops’ willingness to fight and “incorporate creative analytic exercises,” according to the document. The US is now also prioritizing earlier evacuations when “faced with a degrading security situation.”
Still, the White House largely defended President Joe Biden’s decision-making process and said his plan to withdraw was hampered by Trump’s decision to draw down troop levels, release Taliban prisoners, and reduce State Department staffing.
“Decisions made and the lack of planning done by the previous administration significantly limited options available,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday.
The report revealed that Biden asked top military advisers to consider whether to trigger evacuation efforts on Aug. 6, and that senior leaders recommended doing so twice before Biden ultimately initiated the effort on August 14.
“We are now deliberate and clear about the support the US government is able to provide to Americans abroad in challenging country conditions, as well as the limits of that support,” the document said.
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