Timeline of terror: How Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal catastrophe unfolded

One 12 months after the U.S. navy withdrew its troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained management of the nation, prime lawmakers and White Home officers are nonetheless clashing over who, or what, is responsible for the collapse of the Afghan authorities.

Republicans on the Home International Affairs Committee launched a report over the weekend detailing the findings of their investigation into the chaotic withdrawal, concluding a “full lack and a failure to plan,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the committee’s chairman, informed CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday. The White Home disputed the findings, decrying the report as being “riddled with inaccurate characterizations, cherry-picked data, and false claims,” in keeping with a memo.

BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN ACCELERATED DOWNWARD SPIRAL IN POLLS

Right here’s what we learn about how the Afghanistan pullout unfolded final 12 months:

April 14, 2021

President Joe Biden declares that the US will take away all its troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 — the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist assaults. The removing sought to tug out the final of the troops, round 2,500 service members, with out leaving any behind.

That call, paired with the Trump administration’s take care of the Taliban to restrict preventing, was a vital occasion that led to the collapse of the Afghan authorities.

July 2

The U.S. vacates its troops from Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield, which served because the centerpiece of the nation’s navy effort for 20 years. The withdrawal comes on the identical day Germany and Italy withdrew their troops from Afghanistan and relegated the U.S. evacuation flight operation to the city airport positioned in Kabul.

The sudden evacuation of troops causes the air base to be ransacked by looters earlier than Afghan troops can take management.

July 8

Biden declares the ultimate withdrawal date of all U.S. service members from Afghanistan can be Aug. 31, two weeks sooner than initially anticipated. Regardless of issues the pullout would depart the Afghan authorities susceptible to the Taliban, Biden dismisses predictions of a takeover as “not inevitable.”

Biden additional defends his resolution by saying the Afghan military was “higher skilled, higher outfitted and ... extra competent when it comes to conducting warfare.”

July 21

Because the U.S. works to scale back the variety of troops within the nation, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley experiences that half of all districts in Afghanistan are underneath Taliban management.

Aug. 15

Simply two weeks earlier than the U.S. navy is ready to be utterly faraway from the nation, Taliban fighters overtake the capital metropolis of Kabul — marking the autumn of the Afghan authorities after months of offensives. The identical day, President Ashraf Ghani flees the nation.

With the fast Taliban takeover, the U.S. commits to deploying one other 1,000 troops in response to the autumn of Kabul.

Aug. 16

The U.S. commits to sending one other 1,000 troops to Afghanistan to help in evacuating U.S. residents and allies, bringing the entire to six,000 further troops. Biden acknowledges the withdrawal effort as “arduous and messy” as chaos erupts at Kabul Worldwide Airport from 1000's of Afghans looking for to flee.

Aug. 26

An ISIS-Ok member carries out a suicide assault on the Kabul airport, killing 13 U.S. service members and at the least 170 Afghans throughout the mass evacuation effort. Among the many service members killed are 11 Marines, one Military paratrooper, and one Navy corpsman.

Regardless of the assault, Biden maintains that the withdrawal timeline will proceed as deliberate however pledges retribution, telling these accountable, “We'll hunt you down and make you pay."

Aug. 29

Days after the suicide assault, the U.S. navy launches a drone strike focusing on somebody they consider to pose a menace to U.S. forces aiding with evacuation efforts out of the Kabul airport. (It was later found that the goal was wrongly recognized and had no ties to any terrorist group in Afghanistan.)

Within the assault, the presumed goal, later recognized as an support employee, dies together with 9 others. Among the many lifeless are seven youngsters.

Aug. 30

The ultimate U.S. navy aircraft leaves Afghanistan after greater than 120,000 U.S. residents and allies are evacuated from the nation. Tons of are left behind. Shortly after the final aircraft departs Kabul, Taliban troopers enter the airport to declare victory.

Aug. 31

After the chaotic withdrawal involves an in depth, Biden defends the Afghanistan evacuation resolution.

"I used to be not going to increase this endlessly warfare, and I used to be not extending a endlessly exit," he says.

The president acknowledges that some U.S. residents had been left behind in Afghanistan, estimating “about 100 to 200 People stay in Afghanistan with some intention to go away.”