{"id":68055,"date":"2022-05-18T17:58:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T17:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/05\/18\/us-troop-pullout-was-key-factor-in-afghan-collapse-watchdog-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:35:09","slug":"us-troop-pullout-was-key-factor-in-afghan-collapse-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/afghanistan\/2022\/05\/18\/us-troop-pullout-was-key-factor-in-afghan-collapse-watchdog-says\/","title":{"rendered":"US troop pullout was key factor in Afghan collapse, watchdog says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A government watchdog says decisions by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden to pull all U.S. troops out of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/afghanistan\/\" target=\"_blank\">Afghanistan<\/a> were the key factors in the collapse of that nation\u2019s military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, mirrors assertions made by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/afghanistan\/2021\/09\/28\/senior-leaders-didnt-want-to-leave-afghanistan\/\" target=\"_blank\">senior Pentagon and military leaders<\/a> in the aftermath of the U.S. troop withdrawal that ended last August in the chaotic evacuation of Americans and other civilians from the embattled country. Military leaders have made it clear that their recommendation was to leave about 2,500 U.S. troops in the country, but that plan was not approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2021\/09\/13\/war-in-afghanistan-ended-much-as-it-began-with-us-marines-defending-a-runway\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6797434.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">War in Afghanistan ended much as it began \u2015 with U.S. Marines defending a runway<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">After watching the events of Sept. 11, 2001, unfold on televisions in bars and on ship, the Marines of the 15th MEU knew they were going to war.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/02\/29\/all-us-troops-to-leave-afghanistan-in-14-months-if-taliban-meets-commitments-of-peace-deal-signed-today\/\" target=\"_blank\">In February 2020<\/a>, the Trump administration signed an agreement with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in which the U.S. promised to fully withdraw its troops by May 2021. The Taliban committed to several conditions, including stopping attacks on American and coalition forces. The stated objective was to promote a peace negotiation between the Taliban and the Afghan government, but that diplomatic effort never gained traction before Biden took office in January 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/04\/28\/biden-says-us-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-shows-american-leadership\/\" target=\"_blank\">Just a few months later<\/a>, Biden announced he would complete the U.S. military withdrawal. The announcement fueled the Taliban\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/08\/24\/taliban-takeover-prompts-fears-of-a-resurgent-al-qaida\/\" target=\"_blank\">campaign to retake the country<\/a>, aided by the Afghans\u2019 widespread distrust of their government and entrenched corruption that led to low pay, lack of food and poor living conditions among the Afghan troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"6720\" height=\"4480\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138113136996.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-75255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138113136996.jpg.jpg 6720w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138113136996.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138113136996.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138113136996.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138113136996.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22138113136996.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 6720px) 100vw, 6720px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FILE &#8211; Afghan militiamen join Afghan defense and security forces during a gathering in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 23, 2021. (Rahmat Gul\/AP, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMany Afghans thought the U.S.-Taliban agreement was an act of bad faith and a signal that the U.S. was handing over Afghanistan to the enemy as it rushed to exit the country,\u201d the interim report said. \u201cIts immediate effect was a dramatic loss in [Afghan troops\u2019] morale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. officials have said they were surprised by the quick collapse of the military and the government, prompting sharp congressional criticism of the intelligence community for failing to foresee it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/05\/10\/afghan-based-terror-groups-still-a-year-away-from-ability-to-strike-us-intel-leaders-say\/\">At a congressional hearing last week<\/a>, senators questioned whether there is a need to reform how intelligence agencies assess a foreign military\u2019s will to fight. Lawmakers pointed to two key examples: U.S. intelligence believed that the Kabul government would hold on for months against the Taliban, and more recently believed that Ukraine\u2019s forces would quickly fall to Russia\u2019s invasion. Both were wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Military and defense leaders have said that the Afghanistan collapse was built on years of missteps, as the U.S. struggled to find a successful way to train and equip Afghan forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a blunt assessment of the war, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress last fall that the result was years in the making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOutcomes in a war like this, an outcome that is a strategic failure \u2014 the enemy is in charge in Kabul, there\u2019s no way else to describe that \u2014 that is a cumulative effect of 20 years,\u201d Milley said, adding that lessons need to be learned, including whether the U.S. military made the Afghans overly dependent on American technology in a mistaken effort to make the Afghan army look like the American army.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/09\/10\/wyoming-troop-deaths-20-years-apart-bookend-afghanistan-war\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Edmunds1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Wyoming troop deaths 20 years apart bookend Afghanistan war<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Edmunds and McCollum were both killed on their first deployments. In between, almost 2,500 U.S. troops died in the Afghanistan war.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, in the end, the new report said that the Afghans were still heavily dependent on U.S. air support for strikes and emergency evacuations, and also on U.S. contractors to maintain and repair aircraft and other systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But all agree that the Doha agreement was a lynchpin in the collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe signing of the Doha agreement had a really pernicious effect on the government of Afghanistan and on its military \u2014 psychological more than anything else, but we set a date-certain for when we were going to leave and when they could expect all assistance to end,\u201d Gen. Frank McKenzie told Congress last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McKenzie, who was then the top U.S. general in the Middle East and has since retired, argued to keep 2,500 U.S. troops there, as did Milley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Doha agreement, said the SIGAR report, led the Afghan population and its military to feel abandoned. And the Trump administration\u2019s decision to limit U.S. airstrikes against the Taliban stopped any progress the Afghans were making, and left them unable and eventually unwilling to hold territory, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the report, a former U.S. commander in Afghanistan said the U.S. built the Afghan army to rely on contractor support. \u201cWithout it, it can\u2019t function. Game over,\u201d the commander told SIGAR. \u201cWhen the contractors pulled out, it was like we pulled all the sticks out of the Jenga pile and expected it to stay up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More broadly, the SIGAR report said that both the U.S. and Afghan governments \u201clacked the political will to dedicate the time and resources necessary to reconstruct an entire security sector in a war-torn and impoverished country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neither side, it said, \u201cappeared to have the political commitment to doing what it would take to address the challenges.\u201d As a result, it said, the Afghan military couldn\u2019t operate independently and never really became a cohesive force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction mirrors assertions made by senior Pentagon and military leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":75251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":132,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","middle-column","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"5":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","middle-column","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"6":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","middle-column","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"},"7":{"categories":["pentagon-congress","news","middle-column","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"pentagon-congress"}}},"categories":[132,28,10,29,116,15,86],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1418],"class_list":["post-68055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-disaster","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PKD26BWQOVC4LKCUH4YHWCPQWY","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/afghanistan\/2022\/05\/18\/us-troop-pullout-was-key-factor-in-afghan-collapse-watchdog-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US troop pullout was key factor in Afghan collapse, watchdog says - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction mirrors assertions made by senior Pentagon and military leaders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US troop pullout was key factor in Afghan collapse, watchdog says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction mirrors assertions made by senior Pentagon and military leaders.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/afghanistan\/2022\/05\/18\/us-troop-pullout-was-key-factor-in-afghan-collapse-watchdog-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Military Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-18T17:58:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T07:35:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lolita C. 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