Three years after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration has not fired any leadership members for their roles in the failed operation and continues to insist that the decision to withdraw was the right one.

US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 Saw While many perceive the operation as a chaotic and haphazard operation that resulted in the deaths of several US troops, multiple records review shows that the Biden administration has largely refused to accept responsibility for it and that no leadership involved in the operation has been fired or resigned. (Related article: Monitoring group points out increased risk of Taliban stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid sent to Afghanistan)

The Biden administration had aimed to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 2021, but failures in planning and preparation by Washington's leadership have left the situation for ground troops in Afghanistan in disarray and led to a chaotic withdrawal. Military leaders also miscalculated, thinking that the U.S. would not seize control of Afghanistan as quickly as the Taliban after the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The Department of Defense, under Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, was heavily involved before and during the withdrawal, guiding U.S. operations on the ground in Afghanistan and providing resources and intelligence for the operation. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired General Mark Milley (then the military's highest ranking officer), was also involved in coordinating the withdrawal strategy and operations.

Both Austin and Milley were present at withdrawal planning meetings, retired Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan at the time, told lawmakers at a closed-door hearing in April. According to The Washington Post reported that Miller had privately warned the administration before the withdrawal that the situation in Afghanistan would “get very, very bad very quickly” after U.S. troops left.

Miller served as the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in Afghanistan before retiring from his post in July 2023. Neither Austin nor Milley were relieved of their posts by the withdrawal, but Milley testified in 2023 that he advised the administration to keep troops in Afghanistan, arguing that the region would quickly collapse if the U.S. withdrew as planned. According to Milley's term as JCOS chair ends in September 2023, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, Austin testified Austin supported Biden's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the country in 2021 and said he had “no regrets” about the operation. Austin will continue to serve as secretary of defense under the Biden administration.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – AUGUST 6: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hold a joint press conference during the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, August 6, 2024. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Like the Pentagon, the State Department, led by Secretary Antony Blinken, is tasked with overseeing U.S. foreign affairs and was involved in planning and executing the withdrawal from Afghanistan, particularly the evacuation of U.S. nationals there. Initially, several thousand Americans were left behind in Afghanistan, but most of them were evacuated over the following weeks and months. (Related article: As the winds shift away from Biden, it is reported that Secretary of State Blinken has warned China about Harris' tough views on China relations.)

State Department 2023 Actions Report The withdrawal operation was “hindered by a lack of clarity about who was in charge within the Ministry of Defence,” the report said. It also said there was “insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios.”

There have been multiple credible reports that the State Department repeatedly failed to properly vet or track millions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan following the 2021 U.S. withdrawal, putting the aid money at risk of falling into the hands of the Taliban and other extremist groups.

The United States left $7 billion worth of military equipment behind in Afghanistan, and the Taliban, the Islamic militant group that rules Afghanistan, demonstrated on Wednesday using U.S. military equipment and vehicles left behind at a former U.S. military base in the country.

Biden has not fired Blinken, Blinken has not resigned as secretary of state, and neither has national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who would have listened to and advised Biden before and during the withdrawal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (R) arrive to listen to President Joe Biden's press conference during the closing ceremony of the 75th NATO Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, July 11, 2024. Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biden administration's 2023 report placed much of the responsibility for the withdrawal on the previous Trump administration, given that President Trump had signed an agreement with the Taliban in 2020 to withdraw U.S. troops by 2021. After taking office in 2021, Biden sought to abide by the agreement and withdraw troops by September of that year, according to the report.

Trump and his team argued that the withdrawal would have been safe and secure if he had been president at the time, and accused the Biden administration of “attempting to gaslight the American people that our withdrawal from Afghanistan was disastrous, directly led to American deaths, and embolden terrorists.”

Biden has defended his choice to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, falsely claiming during a debate with Trump in June that he was “the only president in the last 10 years to have had no soldiers killed anywhere in the world.”

After the withdrawal, Biden reportedly told aides, including Sullivan, that he supported their decision regarding the operation. According to To Axios.

The Defense Department and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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