The Pentagon is convening a new panel to review the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and previous investigations into the event, according to a new memo released Tuesday.
The memo, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, orders a “Special Review Panel” to examine prior investigations and analyze the decision-making that led to the chaotic and deadly departure, which happened under President Biden but was set in motion by President Trump in 2020 when he negotiated and signed a deal with the Taliban committing to an earlier timeline for the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“Over the last three months, the Department has been engaged in a review of this catastrophic event in our military ‘s history,” Hegseth writes. “I have concluded that we need to conduct a comprehensive review to ensure that accountability for this event is met and that the complete picture is provided to the American people.”
Trump following his election loss in 2020 ordered a rapid withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, though the effort was slow rolled by senior officials, according to testimony released by the congressional January 6 committee in October 2022.
After taking office, Biden delayed the planned withdrawal by a few months, but in the weeks before the U.S. was to fully leave, the country quickly fell to the Taliban, who seized abandoned American military equipment.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghan citizens then attempted to flee the country by swarming the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul where forces were exiting. In the chaos, 13 U.S. service members and more than 170 Afghans were killed by a suicide bombing outside the Abbey Gate of airport.
The event sparked a House Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation and has been heavily criticized by Trump, who said he expects a Pentagon review of the withdrawal to result in the removal of most of the generals involved.
At a Feb. 26 Cabinet meeting attended by Hegseth, Trump said “every single one” of the military generals involved in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan should be fired.
“I’m not going to tell this man what to do, but I will say that if I had his place I’d fire every single one of them,” Trump said, gesturing to Hegseth.
“I don’t see a big promotion in that group,” Trump later said. “I think I think they’re going to be largely gone.”
Heading the new Pentagon panel will be Sean Parnell, a top Hegseth advisor and spokesman, as well as an Afghanistan War veteran. Also serving on it will be retired Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, who was forced to leave the service after he posted viral videos in August 2021 — directly after the airport suicide bombing — in which he appeared in uniform while calling out senior military leaders for the deadly withdrawal.
Also included is Jerry Dunleavy, an author and former investigative reporter for the Washington Examiner who helped lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation into the Afghanistan pullout.
“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 in a statement alongside the memo.
He said the panel will provide updates “at appropriate times to keep the American people informed of our findings and any directed actions resulting from our review.”