The US State Department will begin a series of investigations into the diplomatic efforts of the administration of the United States President Joe Biden in Afghanistan.
This was reported by the Politico edition, citing sources in the Foreign Ministry, Congress, as well as documents available to the publication.
The inspections were initiated by Acting Inspector General of the State Department Diane Shaw, who notified Congress of her steps.
In a letter sent to members of Congress, she noted that her office has launched "several oversight projects" regarding the end of the US military and diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, Politico noted.
“Given the heightened interest in this work from Congress and the unique circumstances that require the coordination of the entire community of inspectors general, I wanted to notify our committees under the jurisdiction of which such activities fall, about this important work,” - leads the publication of her statement.
The subject of verification, in particular, will be the circumstances of the closure of the US diplomatic mission in Afghanistan and the evacuation of both American and Afghan citizens from Kabul.
It is reported that Shaw sent the letter to the heads of the foreign affairs committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as special intelligence committees, which are already studying the circumstances of the rapid withdrawal of American forces from the republic.
Politico also suggested that similar proceedings could be conducted by Inspector General for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan John Sopko and Acting Inspector General of the Pentagon Sean O'Donnell.
Diana Shaw's intentions were confirmed by the official representative of the Office of the Inspector General of the State Department, Ryan Holden.
In a comment to Politico, he noted that all subordinate committees of the Office of the Inspector General of the State Department have been notified of the planned proceedings.
At the same time, Holden chose not to call these checks an investigation.
“We told Congress that these projects will be considered as reviews,” he said.
It is noted that during the inspections it is planned to pay special attention to the program of issuing special visas (SIV) to Afghans and their families who collaborated with the American military, and their resettlement.
Launched back in 2009, the program was drowning in bureaucratic delays, which is why by August 2021 there were about 18 thousand applications pending for participation in the program.
US Department of State
Reuters
© Joshua Roberts
At the same time, as noted by the American media earlier, 18 thousand are those who provided direct assistance to the US military, mainly local translators.
In general, the number of applicants for SIV exceeds 50 thousand. At the same time, at the time of the announcement of the evacuation, the process for the approval of a special visa, consisting of 14 stages, some of the applicants not only did not go through, but did not even begin to go through.
Thus, according to various estimates, only 5.5 thousand Afghans were able to go through the first third of the process.
Chaos and panic
The United States, whose troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001, began to withdraw the military from the republic on May 1 of this year. The process took place quite rapidly, since in July the Pentagon already announced that 95% of the contingent had been sent home. The Taliban * saw the withdrawal of American forces as a pretext for stepping up the offensive. By August, the Taliban had taken control of major parts of the country. On August 15, militants took over Kabul and occupied the presidential palace, announcing a seizure of power. The Taliban announced the complete end of hostilities on September 6, taking control of the resisting Panjshir province.
They also put forward a condition for Washington - he must complete the evacuation from the country by August 31.
As Joe Biden later said, about 120 thousand people have been evacuated since the end of July as part of the operation to evacuate the military and Afghans.
At the same time, the evacuation was carried out in conditions of panic and confusion, which was taken advantage of by the extremists, who carried out attacks on August 26 in the area of the airport.
Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
As a result of the terrorist attacks, according to media reports, more than 170 people were killed.
The nature of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the consequences of these actions, as well as the organization of the evacuation, were repeatedly criticized not only by Republicans, but also by Democrats.
Thus, the head of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrat Robert Menendez called the situation in the country a failure of the American military mission.
“I am disappointed that the Biden administration has apparently failed to accurately assess the implications of a precipitous US withdrawal.
We are now witnessing the horrific results of years of government policy and intelligence failures, ”he said on NBC.
A similar point of view was expressed by his colleague on the committee, Democratic Senator Ben Cardin: “The footage from Afghanistan that we have seen testifies to a monstrous humanitarian crisis.
There is no doubt that it will harm us. "
US President Joe Biden
AP
© Evan Vucci
In turn, members of the US House of Representatives at the end of August submitted to Congress a bill on the need to initiate an investigation into the circumstances associated with the withdrawal of the American contingent from the republic.
In their opinion, it should be carried out by the inspector general of the United States Department of Defense.
At the same time, Joe Biden himself previously stated that he did not regret the evacuation of troops from Afghanistan, admitting, however, that he did not expect the local authorities to fall so quickly under the onslaught of the Taliban.
Reduce the severity of the topic
Experts interviewed by RT believe that the proceedings through the State Department were inevitable, since it was this department that was responsible for the diplomatic component of the American 20-year operation, and it was also supposed to ensure the organization of the evacuation, namely: admission to it of those who had the right to do so ...
At the same time, as noted by the expert of the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, Vladimir Bruter, the State Department will try not to delay their "review" in order to quickly remove the topic of Afghanistan from the political agenda.
“Now there are many questions and claims to the US foreign policy department and the Biden administration.
If the investigation is not carried out, then they will remain so, going into the field of speculation.
Therefore, the current authorities are interested in conducting an investigation, finding some flaws and even mistakes, but generally admitting that the decisions on Afghanistan were correct and successful, "Bruter expressed his opinion in an interview with RT.
He also stressed that for this, American politicians and officials have chosen a very convenient time - when a little more than a year remains before the midterm elections to Congress.
According to Bruter, the promptly conducted investigation will reduce the severity of the Afghan topic and will not be a trump card for the same Republicans in the struggle for seats.
“It is beneficial for the authorities that the situation remains somewhere in 2021, at the very beginning of 2022.
So that by the end of the political season, that is, by the summer of 2022, the topic of Afghanistan finally left the top.
And the State Department is striving for this, "said the interlocutor of RT.
A similar point of view is shared by the American political scientist Malek Dudakov, emphasizing that one should not expect to find any special mistakes from the State Department.
“As a result, they will draw up some kind of report that can be shown to dissatisfied politicians, for example, Republicans, and say that we conducted an investigation and came to the conclusion that nothing was violated.
And this is being done right now, because two months have passed since the events and emotions have already subsided, so you can address this topic with the least reputational losses, "Dudakov explained in a commentary on RT.
US military in Afghanistan
AP
© Senior Airman Taylor Crul / US Air Force
In turn, Vladimir Bruter suggested that those who conduct the proceedings would most likely try to shift the main responsibility for the unfolding events to the administration of the 45th US President Donald Trump.
In general, Bruter believes, no conclusions will shake the US leadership in its intentions to organize military operations where they consider it beneficial for themselves.
“After all, in general, the American authorities do not believe that the 20-year mission in Afghanistan was a failure.
It's just that the question now is that Washington no longer possesses the resources that would allow it to invade other "non-democratic" countries whenever necessary.
Moreover, the international agenda is constantly changing.
And now, for the same USA, the Asia-Pacific region and the opposition to China are of the greatest relevance, ”summed up Bruter.
* "Taliban" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.