FIRST ON FOX: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., torched Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Afghanistan withdrawal report because it pushed “outright untruths.”
In a Tuesday letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, Rogers referred to his classified correspondence with Austin earlier this month concerning “multiple discrepancies in the classified version of the After Action Review concerning the botched and deadly withdrawal of U.S. Forces from Afghanistan.”
Rogers detailed the faults he found in the after action review as well as in Austin’s “personal reflections,” which were attached to the report in a classified memorandum.
“Sadly, your memorandum does not accept responsibility, and propounds outright untruths, related to the Biden Administration’s actions and inactions in failing to secure a safe and orderly withdrawal of troops and related Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation (‘NEO’),” he continued.
BIDEN ADMIN REVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL REPEATEDLY BLAMES TRUMP
Rogers wrote that “the fog of war is likely to result in mistakes and even tragedy, an honest appraisal of the Biden Administration’s involvement in implementing the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has still not occurred.”
The House Armed Services chairman wrote that “it is incumbent on the Committee and its oversight responsibilities to determine what went wrong and how such a catastrophe can be avoided in the future.”
The Pentagon’s review of the withdrawal as reported to the House “omitted significant portions included in its Table of Contents, including all endnotes and other appendices to the report,” Rogers wrote.
“Additionally, significant redaction of material in the classified report is not explained. The Committee relies upon transparency in conducting oversight for the American people, so I hope [the] exclusion of associated documents with the AAR was unintentional and that the Committee can receive an appropriately-redacted version. Please produce all documents, no later than July 7, 2023, associated with the AAR as listed in the report’s Table of Contents.”
When asked for comment on the letter, a Defense Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital they had nothing to add at this time and that they would respond to Rogers as appropriate.
In April, the White House released its review of President Biden’s fumbled withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, dropping the long-awaited report days before the Easter holiday and while former President Donald Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury dominated headlines.
In a 12-page outline, Biden officials defend the president, calling his decision to end the two decades-long war “the right thing for the country.” The report does not appear to acknowledge any mistakes made by Biden. However, the document repeatedly criticizes the Trump administration for constraining the conditions of American evacuation, during which 13 American service members died in a suicide bombing while protecting the Kabul airport.
The review does acknowledge that the evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan should have started sooner, but blames the delays on the Afghan government and military, and on U.S. military and intelligence community assessments.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed reporting.
