Latest news with #AfghanistanWithdrawal
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Colonel banished for condemning Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal appointed to investigate it
Lt Col Stu Scheller was thrown in the brig and then drummed out of the US Marine Corps for publicly condemning the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Almost four years later, he is part of the team investigating the Biden administration's handling of the evacuation that led to the deaths of 13 US troops in a suicide attack at Kabul airport. 'Ironic that I will be investigating who should be held accountable for Afghanistan,' Lt Col Scheller, who was handed a senior role at the Pentagon by Donald Trump, said this week. It shows just how much Washington has changed since Mr Trump returned to power. And it marks an extraordinary turnaround for a figure who was relieved of his command and court martialled after posting a video criticising senior officers on the day a blast ripped through American personnel guarding the evacuation from the Afghan capital. 'I have been fighting for 17 years,' said Lt Col Scheller, then commander of the advanced infantry training battalion. 'I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: 'I demand accountability.'' His protest made him a hero to supporters of Mr Trump, as they accused Joe Biden of botching the withdrawal and leaving billions of dollars of weapons to fall to the Taliban. Last month he announced he had taken up a post at the Pentagon as a senior adviser under Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defence. 'The military is in desperate need of change and there can be no change without disrupters,' he said at the time. 'For those who criticise, wanting stability and the status quo… you are the real problem.' He said his role was to tackle 'careerism' in the armed forces and to ensure that people rose through the ranks on merit. And on Wednesday he was named to Mr Hegseth's new investigation. 'He was the one guy fired for telling the truth about what happened in Afghanistan,' said Mr Hegseth a day earlier. Mr Biden, the president at the time, ordered the withdrawal of the last remaining American troops from the war-torn country in April 2021. It quickly descended into chaos. Afghan government forces melted away as their allies left, setting Taliban troops on a helter skelter race to Kabul. They seized the city in August that year, sending thousands of foreigners and Afghan nationals flocking to the airport seeking safe passage out. Tragedy struck when a suicide bomber detonated his deadly payload at one of the main entry points where American troops were protecting civilians. The attack will be at the centre of the new investigation, led by Sean Parnell, a former Ranger who now serves as Pentagon spokesman. It will also include Jerry Dunleavy, a journalist who resigned from a Republican investigation last year in protest that it had not gone far enough. Divided opinion On message boards used by Marines, it was Lt Col Scheller's name that attracted most attention. Opinion divided on whether he was a wise choice. 'That guy who was popping off about an op he had no connection to and knew nothing about is now an investigator for it?,' said one user of a Reddit forum. Another poster, who claimed to have been trained by him, said: 'More than anyone else I interacted with, that man cared about the future of the corps and knew the future [lay] in our subordinates and how we treat them. 'I wish him the best and I know he will do the best for our country.' Lt Col Scheller's actions as the withdrawal collapsed into chaos also divided opinion at the time. He won support from some veterans who shared his concerns but angered others who felt he was wrong to make such a public protest while in uniform. He followed up with further social media posts criticising military leaders and called for 'revolution'. He was eventually charged with six violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and struck a plea deal, resigning his commission and leaving the Marines at the end of 2021.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Hegseth Orders a New Review of U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he had directed his chief spokesman to convene a panel to review the U.S. military's chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and to ensure that senior military officials were held accountable. In a memo to senior Pentagon leaders, Mr. Hegseth said that the department had been reviewing the operation that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. troops and 170 civilians at Kabul International Airport. He suggested that the effort led by Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, would be more comprehensive than previous reviews. Mr. Hegseth's selection of his chief spokesman to conduct such an inquiry was highly unusual and appeared to reflect a skepticism that uniformed military leaders would hold each other accountable. Mr. Parnell served in Afghanistan for 16 months in 2006 and 2007 as a platoon leader in Paktika Province, near Pakistan's border, where he was wounded in combat. A news release announcing the review noted that he 'lost countless friends to the war on terror.' He will be joined in the review by former Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, who in October 2021 pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty, contempt toward officials and willfully disobeying a superior officer, after he excoriated senior military officials in the days after a suicide bombing killed the 13 U.S. troops at Kabul's airport. 'I want to say this very strongly,' Colonel Scheller said in his video he recorded only hours after the deaths. 'I have been fighting for 17 years. I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders: I demand accountability.' He was reprimanded by a military judge and ordered to forfeit $5,000 in pay. In his video, Colonel Scheller criticized the military's senior leaders for closing Bagram Air Base, a large, secure facility about 25 miles from Kabul, and for relying entirely on a more vulnerable, civilian airport for the high-stakes evacuation. 'Did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, 'Hey, it's a bad idea to evacuate Bagram airfield'?' he asked. Mr. Hegseth largely blamed the Biden administration for the poorly executed end to the war, and seemed to suggest, much as Colonel Scheller did in his video, that uniformed military leaders should have resigned in protest rather than carry out the flawed withdrawal plan. 'This team will ensure ACCOUNTABILITY to the American people and the warfighters of our great Nation,' Mr. Hegseth wrote in announcing the effort. But the review's narrow scope likely will not include the decisions that led up to the withdrawal, such as the deal President Trump and his first administration made with the Taliban in February 2020. That agreement set a hard deadline for America's retreat from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war. Nor does it seem likely that the review will look into the sudden collapse of the Afghan military after tens of billions of dollars in support from the Pentagon. Civilian and military leaders spanning four presidencies touted the growing strength and progress of the Afghan forces only to see them collapse in a matter of weeks as the U.S. military was leaving.
Washington Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Hegseth orders new review of Afghanistan withdrawal and suicide bombing at Kabul airport
WASHINGTON — 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.'
Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Hegseth orders new review of Afghanistan withdrawal and suicide bombing at Kabul airport
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Hegseth orders new review of Afghanistan withdrawal and suicide bombing at Kabul airport
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.
