The Afghanistan War Commission, a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. Congress, has appointed Jaime Cheshire as its Executive Director.
In a statement, the Commission said that Jaime Cheshire, a former CIA official, will be responsible for leading the Commission’s comprehensive review of key strategic, diplomatic, and operational decisions related to the war in Afghanistan between June 2001 to August 2021.
Set up in December 2021, the Commission is tasked to examine the key decisions that were made about the war in Afghanistan, including decisions made before the war started. Through this undertaking, it will develop a list of lessons learned from the war and make recommendations for how to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
But the Commission, comprised of 16 current and former civilian and military figures, have been criticised for not having anyone from Afghanistan.
Kathy Gannon, the veteran Canadian journalist and author, said in a tweet on Sunday:
The Commission will first meet in August 2023 and is required to submit its final report to appropriate congressional committees within three years of its first meeting.