US Defence Secretary Pete Hagseth has ordered a review of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
“Over the past three months, the Department has been engaged in an analysis of this catastrophic event in our military’s history. I have concluded that we need to conduct a comprehensive analysis to ensure accountability for this event and provide the American people with a complete picture,” reads the document, which the minister released on social media x.
Hagseth said he was appointing Sean Parnell, his counsellor and communications assistant, to head the review commission. He said the commission will “scrutinise preliminary investigations thoroughly”.
The US defence chief noted that he and President Trump “formally pledged full transparency on what happened during the withdrawal from Afghanistan”. The Department of Defence has an obligation to make the facts public.”
As CNN notes, there have been no public dismissals of senior officials because of the way the withdrawal was handled, although the withdrawal has been the subject of numerous other audits and investigations.
The Taliban occupied Kabul and effectively seized power in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, shortly before the agreed deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from the country. The United States completed the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan on 31 August, ending a presence in the country that had lasted nearly 20 years.