Biden administration responds to critical assessment of Afghanistan withdrawal.

The White House rejected a report by Republican lawmakers that criticized President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, claiming it was partisan and offered no new information.

The Republican chair of the committee, Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, released a GOP-led report challenging Biden's assertion that his hands were constrained by the agreement Trump made with the Taliban to establish a deadline for U.S. withdrawal in the summer of 2021. Additionally, the report stated that State Department officials lacked a plan for assisting Americans and allies while there were still troops in the region to safeguard them.

McCaul's report pointed out the inadequate response to terror threats prior to the ISIS-K bombing at the Kabul airport, which resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and over 150 Afghan civilians. Additionally, the Taliban likely gained access to $7 billion in abandoned U.S. weapons and up to $57 million in U.S. funds that were initially intended for the Afghan government.

During a White House briefing, John Kirby, the White House National Security Council communications adviser, defended Biden's approach to withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Kirby stated that the GOP report, released two years after their initial report, contains minimal new information.

He afterwards presented a summary of the "real facts" he deemed crucial.

"On the day the current administration came into power, the Taliban was at its strongest in years. The Afghan government, on the other hand, was the weakest. The Trump administration reached a deal known as the Doha Agreement, which required the complete withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan by May 2021, including the closure of Bagram Air Base."

The Taliban agreed not to attack U.S. troops in exchange for the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters from prison, he stated.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former commander of U.S. Central Command, testified that the Doha deal had a detrimental effect on the Afghan government, demoralizing them.

According to Kirby, they knew immediately that America was on its way out. In October 2020, then-President Trump ordered his military to hasten the withdrawal from Afghanistan and have everyone depart by Christmas of that year.

"President Biden had a tough decision when he took office: adhere to the imperfect agreement and end America's longest war, or break the deal, prolong the conflict, and see a smaller group of American troops back in combat with the Taliban. Biden opted for the former, giving himself more time to prepare for the withdrawal, which has made the nation safer."

Kirby raised concerns about "falsehoods" in the report, stating that there was actually planning for evacuations to begin in the spring of 2021.

The Department of Defense proposed additional military units in the region to be ready to respond when a decision was made to evacuate.

During the evacuation, securing Bagram Air Base would have necessitated thousands of additional U.S. troops, posing a dangerous trek for evacuees across Taliban territory, making the evacuation even more challenging.

Kirby stated that no U.S. equipment was handed over to the Taliban.

"The equipment was left by Afghan forces when they surrendered or stopped fighting, despite being provided appropriately and with congressional approval over two decades of war."

Kirby stated that the Biden administration did not mislead, lie, or fail to be transparent during or after the withdrawal.

"He stated that they did their utmost to keep the American public informed of events and shared their after-action reports with the public."

Planet Chronicle Digital's Landon Mion contributed to this report.