Afghanistan withdrawal: US Secretary of State orders internal review of evacuation efforts

The US ended its military presence in Afghanistan back in August in the direction of President Joe Biden, a move that did not go without receiving widespread criticism. Weeks after the evacuation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has ordered an internal review of the country’s withdrawal.

Blinken announced Wednesday that he had ordered an internal review of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost 20 years of being on the ground. In the days leading up to the end of August, the US has airlifted over 120,000 civilians who were looking to flee the country as the insurgent group Taliban rapidly took control of the Afghan government. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had also fled the country at this time, resulting in a further collapse of the western-backed Afghan government to the Taliban.

“I’ve ordered a series of internal reviews focused on our planning and execution for the evacuation and relocation effort in Afghanistan,” said Blinken in his remarks at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington.

While Blinken commended the department’s efforts during the evacuation process, he also said that the agency also needs to learn from the experience in order to do better should another similar situation arise in the future. The details of the internal reviews were not disclosed.

“We owe it to ourselves, to our Afghan friends and partners, and to the future State Department employees who might find themselves facing a similar challenge one day to capture all that we’ve learned, to study it, to apply it, to preserve it in a way that it enhances our future planning and helps us prepare better for future emergencies,” added Blinken.

This follows reports last week that the State Department’s Inspector General would review that the end of diplomatic operations in Afghanistan as well as look into the Special Immigrant Visa program to allow Afghans to enter the US as refugees.

With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan, the country is also facing an economic crisis as countries that hold reserve funds for Afghanistan have withheld the aid. According to officials from the United Nations, the organization also struggling to get more funds to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghan citizens who may be on the verge of starvation, especially in the coming winter season.

One UN official familiar with the matter said that political solutions may be needed to solve the crisis. The official referred to sanctions relief as well as governments and groups to allocate billions of dollars of Afghan assets that are held overseas.