station from viewers like you.
Thank you.
Amna: Good evening, and welcome
to the "Newshour."
Two stories have dominated this
day, escalating
Israeli-Palestinian
confrontations
appeared to move the Middle East
closer to a broader conflict.
And the Biden white house put
out its long-awaited report on
the widely criticized fall of
Afghanistan in 2021.
Geoff: First, Afghanistan.
U.S. Forces hastily withdrew in
August 2021 as the Taliban
re-captured the country after
nearly 20 years of war.
Amid the chaos, a suicide
bombing killed 13 U.S. Troops
and more than 100 Afghans.
Today, the national security
council's John Kirby laid out a
12-page summary, blaming the
trump administration, bad
intelligence, and the Afghans
themselves.
Our Laura Barron Lopez had a
seat at today's briefing and
joins us to break down the
report's conclusions.
What does this 12 page or after
action report say?
Correspondent: This is a report
compiled by the national
security council based off the
after action review conducted by
the state department and defense
department, so there are a
number of key findings from this
report.
That includes that the
administration will now
prioritize earlier and faster
evacuations, something that was
not done in the withdrawal
during Afghanistan.
They also say president Biden
was significantly constrained by
the trump administration's
decisions in the four years
prior.
They did not expect the ease and
speed of the Taliban takeover,
and from here on out they will
use more aggressive
communication about risks,
acknowledging there was an
intelligence failure.
Despite these findings, the
administration still said the
president stands by the
withdrawal of things it was the
right decision, and in terms of
additional reports being
released, they said not so far.
Ultimately they are giving these
reports to congress, the
classified versions of them.
Geoff: Throughout this report,
the Biden administration to
repeatedly fall trump
administration for a lack of
planning and poor communication
from one administration to the
next.
>> That was a big part of this
report.
I was in the white house press
briefing where John Kirby
answered a lot of our questions.
He said that it was undeniable
that the actions in planning by
the trump administration limited
the president's options.
They specifically cited the fact
the negotiations between the
trump administration and the
Afghan government to release
fighters from prison, reduce
troop levels to 2500 service
members on the ground.
They said during the transition,
the trump administration gave
them no plans they potentially
had about a final withdrawal, so
Kirby was pressed on this over
and over, and he ultimately said
about the accountability the
current administration should
take itself, and he said this
document, this review is not
about accountability.
It is about understanding what
happened and to move forward
with lessons learned.
Geoff: In terms of understanding
what happened, what about the
evacuation itself?
What were those lessons learned?
Correspondent: John Kirby
admitted the administration did
not do everything right,
specifically that this
experience and Afghanistan
directly impacted how they
handle evacuations in Ukraine
and Ethiopia when those capitals
were lessened, so they said they
learned their lesson thereby
trying to speed up and start
evacuations earlier, but nowhere
in this report does it say
officials made major mistakes in
their handling, so Kirby was
pressed on this, challenge about
the evacuation, challenged about
the lives that were lost during
this evacuation.
>> So for all this talk of
chaos, I just didn't see it, not
from my perch.
At one point during the
evacuation, there was an
aircraft taking off full of
people, Americans and Afghans
alike, every 48 minutes, and not
one single mission was missed.
So, I'm sorry, I just don't buy
the whole argument of chaos.
It was tough in the first few
hours, you would expect it to
be, there was nobody at the
airport.
Correspondent: That response is
not sitting well with the number
of people that helped Americans
evacuate from Afghanistan.
Geoff: You have been speaking
with Americans still trying to
get their friends and family and
former colleagues out of the
country.
What do they have to say.
Correspondent: I spoke to
Allison, and Iraq war veteran
and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan
war veterans of America, and she
said she expected more
accountability from the white
house.
>> There wasn't enough
preparation going on for the
withdrawal, especially to make
sure some allies that we made
promises to could make it out
before the inevitable takeover
by the Taliban.
There's blame to go all around
here.
The prior administration
definitely didn't set the
current administration up for
success, but it's their job when
they, you know, get into the
seat of power to assess the lay
of the land and then make course
corrections as necessary.
Correspondent: She also added
that there are still allies of
America that are still there in
Afghanistan, like interpreters
that helped Americans, some of
whom who have gone silent.
They have lost communication
with them, and many veterans is
looking for a plan from the
administration and asking what
is their plan to help these
people to evacuate now years
later.
Geoff: Laura with the latest.
Thank you so much.
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