(CNSNews.com) - President Biden "is very proud of the manner in which the men and women of the military, the Foreign Service, the intelligence community...conducted this — conducted this withdrawal" from Afghanistan, administration spokesman John Kirby told reporters with a straight face on Thursday.
Kirby used the word "proud" multiple times, as he took questions from White House reporters on an unclassified summary of two classified "after-action" reports that have now been sent to Congress.
The review of "lessons learned" largely blames the Trump administration for making decisions that limited the options available to President Biden.
"This document and this effort isn’t about accountability today. It’s about understanding," Kirby said.
But Kirby grew testy when Fox News's Peter Doocy told him, "[P]eople don’t have an issue with the decision to order troops out of Afghanistan. It is with the way that this President ordered it done.
“There were children being killed. There were people hanging off of Air Force jets that were leaving. And you’re saying that you guys are proud of the way that this mission was conducted? You're proud of that?" Doocy asked.
"Proud of the fact that we got more than 124,000 people safely out of Afghanistan? You bet!" Kirby said.
"Proud of the fact that American troops were able to seize control of a defunct airport and get it operational in 48 hours? You bet. Proud of the fact that we now have about 100,000 Afghans, our former allies and partners, living in this country and working towards citizenship? You bet.
"But does that mean that everything went perfect in that evacuation? Of course not.
"I’ve talked about it from a different podium. The after-action reviews are now being reviewed by members of Congress, which will lay out things that could have gone better.
"Nobody is saying that everything was perfect, but there was a lot that went right. And a lot of Afghans are now living better lives in this country and other countries around the world because of the sacrifices and the work of so many American government officials.
"So, yeah, there’s a lot to be proud of, Peter."
Doocy also asked Kirby, "Who's going to get fired?"
"Peter, 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 — it’s not — the purpose of it is not accountability. It’s — the purpose of it is...to study lessons learned."
Trump’s fault
Kirby, in his opening statement to reporters, noted the President Biden inherited a force of 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, the lowest level since 2001.
"He inherited a Special Immigrant Visa program that had been starved of resources. And he inherited a deal struck between the previous administration and the Taliban that called for the complete removal of all U.S. troops by May of 2021 — or else the Taliban, which had stopped its attacks while the deal was in place, would go back to war against the United States.
“The President’s transition team asked to see plans for that removal. They asked to see plans for a security transition to the Afghan government. And they asked to see plans to increase the processing of Special Immigrant Visas. None were forthcoming.
"Transitions matter. That’s the first lesson learned here. And the incoming administration wasn’t afforded much of one.
"Thus, President Biden’s choice was stark: either withdraw all our forces or resume fighting the Taliban. He chose the former but, even in so doing, secured extra time to conduct that withdrawal, stretching it out to August.
"And that’s the second point worth making. Despite having his options curtailed, President Biden led a deliberate, rigorous, and inclusive decision-making process that was responsive to facts on the ground. He focused keenly on the need for proper planning. In fact, President Biden directed his top national security leaders to begin planning for a withdrawal even before he had made the final decision to leave Afghanistan.
“He ordered troop reduction plans; plans to turn over bases and equipment to the Afghan government, as the previous administration had negotiated; plans to draw down our diplomatic presence; and plans to evacuate both American citizens and Afghan allies alike.
“Indeed, evacuation planning started in spring of 2021, and the President ordered additional military forces pre-positioned in the region by mid-summer in case they were ever needed.
“Throughout, President Biden insisted that his team plan for worst-case scenarios, such as the fall of Kabul, even though the intelligence community’s assessment, when he was making the decision in early 2021, was that Taliban advances would accelerate only after the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
“The President repeatedly requested assessments of the trajectory of the conflict from his military and his intelligence professionals.
“No agency predicted a Taliban takeover in nine days. No agency predicted the rapid fleeing of President Ghani, who had indicated to us his intent to remain in Afghanistan up until he departed on the 15th of August. And no agency predicted that more than — that the more than 300,000 trained and equipped Afghan National Security and Defense Forces would fail to fight for their country, especially after 20 years of American support."
Kirby said another lesson learned was "the need to plan early and extensively for low-probability, high-risk scenarios."
Kirby also mentioned the terror attack at the Kabul airport's Abbey Gate, where 13 U.S. troops were killed on August 26th:
President Biden was told by “senior military officials” that they had “sufficient resources and authorities to mitigate threats, including those threats posed by ISIS-K,” Kirby said.
“He trusted the best judgment of his leaders on the ground to make all operational decisions, including with regard to Abbey Gate.
“The President and the First Lady will always honor the sacrifices of the 13 service members who were killed in that attack. And we will never forget their families. We will mourn with them, remember with them, and support those Gold Star families.
“We mourn, as well, the loss of those Afghans killed by that suicide bomber on that day, and others who lost their lives during the withdrawal.”