Politics

REPORT: Biden Administration May Bury Review Of Afghan Withdrawal Fiasco Until After The Midterms

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Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer
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The Biden administration is reportedly analyzing the assessment of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but they haven’t yet announced when the highly classified document will be released to the public.

No after-action reports have been released since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, and Americans will likely not see the internal reviews before the midterm elections, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Top officials asked for a critical review of the Pentagon’s leadership to be revised, a senior defense official told the WSJ.

The department’s original after-action report, submitted in March, was sent back to be revised with a request that the department “expand the scope of the report beyond the initial assessment,” the outlet reported.

The report sent back for revision was meant to assess the last 18 months, including the withdrawal, but officials wouldn’t say how the review should be expanded, according to the WSJ.

The Pentagon recently resubmitted the revised report, but it is unclear when the American people will have access to the latest draft, the WSJ reported. (RELATED: US Government Left As Many As 9,000 American Citizens In Afghanistan After Withdrawal, Senate Report Reveals)

“Defense officials and the Joint Staff believed that the draft they saw was too limited in scope and did not present the thorough review that they believed was necessary,” a senior defense official told the WSJ. “So they sent it back.”

The defense official assured the outlet that the review would not have been sent back because it was “too critical” of Pentagon officials.

“You get nothing out of an after-action analysis if it is not critical enough,” the official told the WSJ. “The real concern was one of substance.”

An explosion at Abby Gate at the Kabul airport killed 13 U.S. military members and wounded 18 during the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal. The incident brought with it heavy criticism, including from grieving U.S. military family members.