WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) – A former Afghan security official with sensitive knowledge of U.S. operations left behind after the U.S. evacuation operation is vulnerable to recruitment or coercion by Russia, China and Iran, Republican lawmakers said on Sunday, noting , that President Joe Biden’s administration failed to prioritize their evacuation.
“This is especially true given the reports that some former Afghan soldiers have fled to Iran,” the Republican minority of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a report on the first anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul.
The Biden administration, the report said, failed to prioritize the evacuation of US-trained Afghan commandos and other elite units in the chaotic August 14-30, 2021, withdrawal and evacuation of US troops at Kabul International Airport. .
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Thirteen American soldiers died and hundreds of American citizens and tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans were left behind during the operation.
The administration called the operation an “overwhelming success” that brought more than 124,000 Americans and Afghans to safety and ended an “endless” war that has killed about 3,500 American and allied troops and hundreds of thousands of Afghans.
But hundreds of US-trained commandos and other former security personnel and their families remain in Afghanistan amid reports that the Taliban are killing and torturing former Afghan officials, allegations the militants deny.
Those former officials “could be recruited or forced to work for any of America’s adversaries that maintain a presence in Afghanistan, including Russia, China or Iran,” the Republican report said.
He called the possibility “a major national security risk” because these Afghans “know the tactics, techniques, and procedures of the U.S. military and intelligence community.”
Some US officials and experts say Biden tried to move on from Afghanistan without properly appreciating the lessons of the war and without taking responsibility for the chaotic evacuation. Read more
The Republican report combines new details of the extraction operation with congressional testimony and military and news reports to show how the administration ignored advice from U.S. commanders, failed to plan adequately and ignored Taliban violations of the withdrawal agreement 2020
Another finding said the administration waited hours before the Taliban overran Kabul to make key evacuation decisions.
These include asking other countries to host transit centers for thousands of Afghan evacuees who worked for the US government during the 20-year US intervention and others at risk of Taliban retribution, the report said.
“Very little was done to prepare for the Taliban takeover of the country” or for the evacuation, it said.
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Reporting by Jonathan Landey; Editing by David Gregorio
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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