Pentagon chief orders review of US withdrawal from Afghanistan

By AFP
May 21, 2025
Taliban forces patrol near the entrance gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, a day after U.S troops withdrawal, in Kabul, Afghanistan August 31, 2021. — Reuters
Taliban forces patrol near the entrance gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, a day after U.S troops withdrawal, in Kabul, Afghanistan August 31, 2021. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday ordered a Pentagon review of the chaotic 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has long been a target of Republican criticism.

“I have concluded that we need to conduct a comprehensive review to ensure that accountability for this event is met and that the complete picture is provided to the American people,” Hegseth wrote in a memo.

A special review panel will “thoroughly examine previous investigations, to include but not limited to, findings of fact, sources, witnesses, and analyse the decision making that led to one of America´s darkest and deadliest international moments,” the memo said.

“This team will ensure ACCOUNTABILITY to the American people and the warfighters of our great Nation,” it added. The US withdrawal saw Taliban fighters sweep aside Afghan forces, forcing the last American troops to mount an evacuation from Kabul´s airport that got more than 120,000 people out of the country in a matter of days.

On August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber targeted crowds of people on the perimeter of Kabul airport who were desperate to get on a flight out of the country, killing more than 170 people, among them 13 American troops.