KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A U.S. Department of War review panel examining the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan has completed a key phase of interviews with senior military and civilian officials and is moving to the next stage of analysis, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
In a statement, Sean Parnell, the panel’s chairman, said it was established by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the direction of President Donald Trump to conduct a comprehensive after-action review of the withdrawal and related decision-making processes.
The panel interviewed officials involved in planning and executing the operation, including former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and former U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, along with more than a dozen other senior figures.
It also reviewed more than nine million documents from multiple U.S. government agencies, covering operational planning, intelligence assessments, interagency communications and post-withdrawal evaluations, the Pentagon said.
Parnell said the scope of the review is significantly broader than a previous assessment conducted under former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, which examined about 3,000 documents. He added that the earlier effort was “significantly narrower in scope and over-classified at the highest levels, limiting public access to critical information.”
“Our purpose is to identify failures in decision-making so that we may prevent the United States from ever repeating this tragedy,” Parnell said. “It is our duty to ensure that the greatest military on Earth is accountable to the American people. Our work continues.”
The panel is now integrating interview findings with documentary evidence and preparing conclusions and recommendations for a final report expected to be submitted to Pentagon leadership, Congress and the public in the coming months.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 — negotiated under the 2020 Doha Agreement during Trump’s first administration and carried out under former President Joe Biden — ended America’s longest war but also triggered a rapid and unexpected collapse of the Western-backed government.
The Taliban returned to power within days, marking a dramatic shift in the country’s political landscape two decades after they were removed following the September 11 attacks.
The operation has faced widespread criticism over poor planning and intelligence assessments, coordination between civilian and military leadership, and the management of evacuation efforts as chaotic scenes unfolded at Kabul International Airport.
The situation turned deadly on August 26, 2021, when a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, claimed by ISIS-K, killed 13 U.S. service members and about 170 Afghans desperately attempting to flee the country. It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in more than a decade, and intensified criticism of security arrangements during the evacuation.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with U.S. and NATO forces were left behind and continue to face security risks under Taliban rule. In late 2025, the Trump administration paused processing of Afghan refugee and visa applications on what it called a “long-term” basis, citing security concerns. The move has sparked renewed concerns among U.S. veterans’ organizations and some lawmakers about the safety of America’s former Afghan allies still in Afghanistan or stranded in neighboring countries.
Trump has repeatedly described the 2021 withdrawal as one of the “most embarrassing moments in U.S. history,” and the new review is part of a broader effort to reassess how the operation was planned and executed.
