The Department of Defense will convene a special review panel to investigate America’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members at an airport suicide bombing in Kabul.
“The Department of Defense has an obligation, both to the American people and to the warfighters who sacrificed their youth in Afghanistan, to get to the facts,” Hegseth said in a memo sent to senior Pentagon leadership. “This remains an important step toward regaining faith and trust with the American people and all those who wear the uniform and is prudent based on the number of casualties and equipment lost during the execution of this withdrawal operation.”
President Joe Biden withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, ending nearly 20 years of American military occupation in the country. Although Biden promised to stay in Afghanistan until “everyone,” including Afghan allies, were safely out of the country, hundreds of Americans were left stranded in Taliban-controlled territory.
Amid the chaos, an ISIS-linked suicide bomber attacked the Kabul airport and killed 13 U.S. service members, and almost 200 civilians. Biden refused to say the names of the 13 service members aloud during his time in office, a move that attracted the ire of the Gold Star families of the slain men and women.
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee investigated the chaotic withdrawal and found, among other things, that Biden’s administration failed to ensure that American people and military equipment were out of Afghanistan, failed to heed warnings from military officials about the dangers of haphazardly withdrawing from the country, and failed to create contingency plans for evacuation operations.
Not one Biden official was held accountable for the withdrawal. Directly after the event in 2021, and most recently in 2024, Biden reaffirmed his decision to pull out of Afghanistan.
“It was a hard decision but the right decision,” Biden declared last year in a speech at the United National Assembly. “Four American presidents had faced that decision. But I was determined not to leave it to the fifth.”
“It was a decision accompanied by tragedy,” he added. “Thirteen brave Americans lost their lives along with hundreds of Afghans in a suicide bomb. I think about those lost lives every day.
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell will convene the special review panel. Parnell served in Afghanistan where he was wounded in action and, Hegseth said in the memo, “it is fitting that he will lead the effort to reexamine previous Abbey Gate investigations conducted by U.S. Central Command during the Biden Administration.”
Marine officer Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller and author Jerry Dunleavy, who published an expose on the withdraw, will also serve on the panel.
“Sean and his team will look at the facts, examine the sources, interview witnesses, analyze the decision making, and post-mortem the chain of events that led to one of America’s darkest moments,” Hegseth said. “Sean and his team will provide updates at appropriate times to keep the American people informed of our findings and any directed actions resulting from our review.”