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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders new review of Afghanistan withdrawal

Published: 21 May. 2025, 13:25

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responds to questions from reporters during a meeting with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey at the Pentagon, March 6, in Washington. [AP/YONHAP]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered another review of the U.S. military's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, and of the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed American troops and Afghans.

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

There have already been multiple reviews of the withdrawal by the Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, the State Department and Congress, which have involved hundreds of interviews and studies of videos, photographs and other footage and data. It's unclear what specific new information the new review is seeking.

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.

A detailed U.S. military review was ordered in 2023 to expand the number of people interviewed, after a Marine injured in the blast said snipers believed they saw the possible bomber but couldn’t get approval to take him out.

The findings, released in 2024, refuted those assertions and concluded that the bombing was not preventable. A congressional review was highly critical of the withdrawal, saying the Biden administration did not adequately prepare for it, or for all the contingencies, and put personnel in danger.

Others, however, have faulted the State Department for not moving quickly enough to decide on an evacuation, resulting in a rush to get out as the Taliban took control of the country. Critics have also blamed Trump for making a deal with the Taliban in 2020 when he was president to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which decreased the number of forces on the ground as the pullout went on.

Both Trump and then-President Joe Biden wanted an end to the war and U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.

The new review will be led by Sean Parnell, the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs. He will convene a panel that will provide updates “at appropriate times,” but there is no time frame or deadline for any report, which is very unusual.

AP