Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Lebanese Ministry of Health: Final toll from airstrike on car in Zebdine, Nabatieh District: Two martyrs, four injured
Egyptian media: Indirect talks between Hamas and Israelis begin in Sharm el-Sheikh.
AFP: France's new PM Sebastein Lecornu resigns just hours after unveiling cabinet.
Trump: Technical teams will meet again on Monday in Egypt to discuss and clarify the final details, and the first phase is scheduled to be completed this week
US President Donald Trump: Talks with Hamas have been very successful and are moving at a rapid pace
Local sources in Aleppo: Violent clashes erupt between the SDF and factions affiliated with the transitional authority on the Deir Hafer and Tishrin Dam fronts in the eastern Aleppo countryside
Israeli media: Interceptor missiles fired in an attempt to shoot down the drone
IOF Spokesperson: Sirens sounded amid suspected "enemy aircraft" infiltrating the Eilat area
Israeli media: "Israel" won the battle but lost the war strategically and politically
Israeli media: Ben Gurion Airport's airspace closed to air traffic following missile launch from Yemen

White House admits massive intel failure in hasty Afghan withdrawal

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 6 Apr 2023 22:15
  • 1 Shares
4 Min Read

The Biden administration blames the conditions created by Donald Trump for the way the planned 2021 withdrawal turned into a rout.

  • x
  • White House admits massive intel failure in hasty Afghan withdrawal
    US soldiers stand behind barbed wire as Afghans sit on a roadside near the military part of the airport in Kabul on August 20, 2021, Afghanistan (AFP)

The White House on Thursday released a long-awaited review of the hasty August 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, admitting that there had been a massive intelligence failure in not predicting rapid Taliban victory.

"Clearly we didn't get things right" on intelligence, National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters after the still classified report was sent to Congress.

But "ending a war, any war, is not an easy endeavor, certainly not after 20 years," Kirby expressed. "It doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing -- ending that war in Afghanistan."

In a declassified summary of the review, the White House blamed conditions created by President Joe Biden's predecessor Donald Trump for the way the planned 2021 withdrawal turned into a rout.

"President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor," the White House summary stated.

But it also acknowledged that the US intelligence services had failed to understand the strength of the Taliban movement and the weakness of the Afghan government's forces that Western countries had spent years propping up.

The summary claimed that when Biden entered office, "the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country."

The report insisted that nothing "would have changed the trajectory" of the withdrawal, and "ultimately, President Biden refused to send another generation of Americans to fight a war that should have ended for the United States long ago."

Read more: McCaul launches investigation into Afghanistan pullout decision

Related News

Taliban foreign minister granted UN waiver for landmark India visit

Taliban denies reports of internet shutdown, says infrastructure 'old'

Afghan territories fell 'like dominos'

In the summary, the White House blamed a deal struck previously between Trump's administration and the Taliban for putting the incoming Biden government in an impossible position.

"The departing Trump administration had left the Biden administration with a date for withdrawal, but no plan for executing it. And after four years of neglect -- and in some cases deliberate degradation -- crucial systems, offices, and agency functions that would be necessary for a safe and orderly departure were in disrepair," the document indicated.

"After more than 20 years, more than $2 trillion dollars, and standing up an Afghan army of 300,000 soldiers, the speed and ease with which the Taliban took control of Afghanistan suggests that there was no scenario -- except a permanent and significantly expanded US military presence -- that would have changed the trajectory," it added.

Kirby acknowledged that the US government did not manage to predict "how fast the Taliban were moving across the country" or "the degree to which they were constructing these deals in the hinterlands that kind of fell like dominos."

"We didn't anticipate how fast the Afghan national security forces were going to fold," he said. "I don't think we fully appreciated the degree of corruption that was in the officer ranks in the military."

"America is on a stronger strategic footing more capable to support Ukraine and to meet our security commitments around the world, as well as the competition with China, because it is not fighting a ground war in Afghanistan," Kirby claimed.

It is noteworthy that since the hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden has blamed the February 2020 agreement Trump reached with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.

The agreement has been blamed by analysts for weakening the then-US-backed Afghan government, which would collapse quickly a year later.

The agreement required the US to withdraw all forces by May 1, 2021. But Biden pushed a full withdrawal to September.

Read more: Intercept: US built a dependent Afghan army, setting it up for failure

  • Afghanistan
  • John Kirby
  • Joe Biden
  • Donald Trump
  • white house

Most Read

Iraq at a crossroads: A new war front?

Iraq at a crossroads: A new war front?

  • West Asia
  • 30 Sep 2025
A Hamas fighter in combat fatigues stands before the ceremony for the handover of Israeli captives to the Red Cross in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, February 22, 2025 (AP)

Hamas responds to Trump plan, backs Gaza withdrawal, exchange

  • Politics
  • 3 Oct 2025
Tucker Carlson speaks at a memorial for Charlie Kirk, Sunday, September 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (AP)

Tucker Carlson: Israeli officers gave orders on Iran inside Pentagon

  • Politics
  • 2 Oct 2025
ap

'Israel' pays influencers $7K per post to whitewash Gaza genocide

  • Politics
  • 1 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Hezbollah's representative in Iran, Sayyed Abdullah Safieddine, during an interview with Al Mayadeen which aired on October 6, 2025 (Al Mayadeen)
Politics

Tehran never interferes in Hezbollah decisions: Representative in Iran

Smoke billows over the Gaza Strip following an Israeli bombardment, as seen from southern Palestine, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP)
Politics

Indirect talks for a ceasefire in Gaza begin in Sharm El-Sheikh: Egypt

Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) prepare to attend a military parad in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, Tuesday, August 12, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Security forces seal Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh districts

Amsterdam Captain Mohammed Ali Mohiuddin, who took part in the Global Sumud mission to Gaza, talks to Al Mayadeen on October 6, 2025 (Screengrab)
Politics

GSF captain says despite abuse, 'Israel weaker than spider's web'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS