The White House admitted Thursday, April 6, a failure of the intelligence services, but defended overall the decision and execution of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the only "scenario" possible.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday handed over to Congress the classified documents relating to the withdrawal from Afghanistan, long demanded in particular by Republicans, and the White House took the opportunity to justify this decision that ended, in August 2021, America's longest war.

In a document summarizing how this withdrawal was designed and executed, the US executive concludes that there was no other "scenario" conceivable. "Ultimately, after more than 20 years, more than $2 trillion spent and the organization of an Afghan army of 000,300 troops, the speed and ease with which the Taliban took control of Afghanistan suggest that there was no other scenario that could have changed the trajectory, except for a permanent and significantly strengthened U.S. military presence," According to this report distributed to the press.

The Taliban regained power even before the last American soldier had left, and John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, a body directly attached to Joe Biden, acknowledged that the Banche House had not anticipated this lightning victory, nor the massive disaffection of the Afghan army and authorities.

"Deceived"

"It is clear that we were wrong" in terms of intelligence, he said at a briefing, adding that Washington had also not "fully appreciated the degree of corruption among Afghan officers". "Ending any war is not easy, certainly not after 20 years," he stressed, adding: "That doesn't mean it wasn't worth it."

A U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan "has always been the intention of President" Biden, the spokesman said. The Democrat has repeatedly explained that the US military, having completed its original mission of countering the terrorist threat in Afghanistan, must redeploy its forces to deal with other threats.

The White House, on the other hand, charged former Republican President Donald Trump: "It is also undeniable that the decisions made by the previous administration and the total lack of preparation have clearly limited the possible options."

Donald Trump strongly criticized this statement, accusing "fools in the White House" of blaming him for this "disaster". "Biden is responsible, no one else!" he said on his Truth Social network.

Chaos

John Kirby also praised the scale and speed of the evacuation operation led by the Americans, who pulled more than 120,000 people out of Afghanistan in a few days, by air rotations. "This chaos that we are talking about, I have not seen it," the spokesman said.

The White House, without going so far as to openly acknowledge a mistake, nevertheless assures in the document released Thursday that Washington "now gives priority to earlier evacuations", giving the example of the evacuation of American diplomats from Ukraine.

Nevertheless, this historic withdrawal has left an impression of chaos, despite John Kirby's words, in the United States and beyond. Images of Kabul airport surrounded by a crowd desperately trying to board departing planes went around the world.

And America was shocked by the death of 13 U.S. soldiers in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group that also killed 170 Afghans on Aug. 26 near the airport. On August 30, 2021, one minute before midnight, the last American soldier flew from the airport of the Afghan capital 24 hours ahead of the deadline set by the US president for the withdrawal of troops from the country.

With AFP

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