White House insists Afghanistan report not about 'accountability'; didn't see 'chaos' in withdrawal
The White House is insisting that the report released Thursday concerning the fumbled withdrawal from Afghanistan was not about "accountability" for the Biden administration and its role in the disastrous pullout from the country in 2021.
The White House is insisting that the report released Thursday concerning the fumbled withdrawal from Afghanistan was not about "accountability" for the Biden administration and its role in the disastrous pullout from the country in 2021 as the Taliban took control
National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby made the comment during Thursday's daily White House press briefing, but also claimed he "just didn't see" the "chaos" of the withdrawal as it was taking place.
The report defended Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, but didn't appear to acknowledge any mistakes made by Biden. However, it repeatedly criticized the Trump administration for constraining the conditions of American evacuation, during which 13 American soldiers died in a suicide bombing while protecting the Kabul airport.
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National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, March 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed Kirby on the report, which admitted the intelligence surrounding the situation in Afghanistan was inaccurate, and asked who from the administration would be fired over the failures and whether President Biden could trust the information given to him in his future daily briefings.
"The purpose of the document that we're putting out today is to sort of collate the chief reviews and findings of the agencies that did after action reviews. The purpose of it is not accountability. The purpose of it is to study lessons learned," Kirby said, avoiding directly answering the question.
He went on to admit that certain pieces of intelligence "weren't accurate," but said the White House was trying to be honest with the American people about what shaped Biden's decision-making on Afghanistan.
In this image provided by the U.S. Army, paratroopers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, and others, prepare to board a C-17 cargo plane at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. (Master Sgt. Alexander Burnett/U.S. Army via AP)
"This document and this effort isn't about accountability today. It's about understanding," Kirby reiterated. "The review process isn't over. This is the next muscle movement in what will be a long process to better understand and comprehend and adjust to what we learned and what we did in Afghanistan."
Kirby was later asked by another reporter how the Trump administration was responsible for the "disorganized and chaotic" withdrawal from Afghanistan, specifically concerning the evacuation flights from the airport.
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He responded by detailing the "hectic" process of setting up the airport for evacuations, but ultimately dismissed the notion that the evacuation was chaotic despite the estimated thousands of Americans and Afghan allies left behind.
Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at a perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, Aug. 17, 2021. (AP)
"For all this talk of chaos, I just didn't see it. Not from my perch. At one point during the evacuation, there was an aircraft taking off full of people, Americans and Afghans alike, every 48 minutes. And not one single mission was missed," he said.
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"So I'm sorry. I just don't buy the whole argument of chaos. It was tough in the first few hours you would expect it to be. There was nobody at the airport and certainly no Americans. It took time to get in there," he added.
Fox News' Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
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