Sec. Hegseth Orders New Review of Afghanistan Debacle

Although several reviews have been conducted to figure out what actually happened in Afghanistan during our disastrous exit, Pete Hegseth thinks there may be more to learn after 3.5 years since the incident:

President Donald Trump and Hegseth have repeatedly blasted the Biden administration for the manner in which the withdrawal was conducted, which Hegseth said Tuesday was ‘disastrous and embarrassing.’ He said the new review will interview witnesses, analyze the decision-making and ‘get the truth.’

You might remember some of the details and images that many of us watched during the execution of the plan:

The Abbey Gate bombing during the final days of the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans, and wounded scores more. It triggered widespread debate and congressional criticism, fueled by searing photographs of desperate Afghans trying to crowd into the airport to get out of Kabul, with some clinging to U.S. military aircraft as they were taking off.

Some people regard it as the most disastrous foreign policy action under the Biden administration.

A statement was issued by the Department of Defense calling for the review:

Today, I am directing the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell to convene a Special Review Panel for the Department into the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Sean Parnell spent 485 days serving in Afghanistan. Sean was wounded in action along with 85% of his platoon and lost countless friends to the War on Terror. It is fitting that he will lead the effort to reexamine previous Abbey Gate investigations conducted by U.S. Central Command during the Biden Administration. In addition, Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, a combat-decorated Marine officer who spoke out about the Afghanistan withdrawal, and Jerry Dunleavy, an author, journalist, and investigator who helped lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation into the Afghanistan withdraw, will serve on the Special Review Panel.

Some of you may recognize the name of Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller. He was the man who criticized senior military leaders over the Afghanistan withdrawal and their unwillingness to be candid about what had occurred and why. The military responded accordingly:

Scheller received a punitive letter of reprimand and was ordered to forfeit $5,000 of one month’s pay in October 2021 after pleading guilty to showing contempt toward officials, showing disrespect toward superior commissioned officers, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, dereliction in the performance of duties, failure to obey an order or regulation, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

Today, Scheller’s words are echoed in the words of Pete Hegseth.

Let justice be done.