Sangamon Sun

On the second anniversary of the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., voiced criticism of the move, citing the loss of 13 service members, the release of thousands of prisoners and the abandonment of billions in military equipment to the Taliban.

“Today, we mark two years since Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Miller said in a Facebook video. “We lost 13 brave service members, more than 5,000 ISIS, al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were released and billions in military equipment was left behind for the Taliban. We will never forget.”

The Biden administration released a report in the wake of the withdrawal, blaming former President Donald Trump for the failure.

The Biden administration's report on the Afghanistan withdrawal has been criticized for being defensive and avoiding accountability, especially given the scrutiny it faces from a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Madiha Afzal said in a report for the Brookings Institution. 

According to Afzal, while the report attributes the problematic withdrawal to the inherited Doha deal from the Trump administration, critics argue the Biden administration had agency in the decision-making process and could have pursued alternative options, such as pushing for an intra-Afghan peace deal or renegotiating the Doha deal. The report's focus on external factors and failure to fully acknowledge the deeper issues contributing to the fall of the Afghan government and army in 2021 have raised concerns about its transparency and sincerity, Brookings Institution reported.

In a CNN analysis, Stephen Collinson called the retreat a “disaster” noting the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan is a significant political and geopolitical disaster for President Joe Biden, tarnishing his administration's reputation and legacy. 

The abrupt fall of the Afghan government and the chaotic evacuation highlights a series of policy failures, misunderstanding of Afghan dynamics and long-standing problems that led to this crisis, raising questions about Biden's leadership and decision-making as commander-in-chief, Collinson wrote in the wake of the withdrawal, according to CNN.