After Action Review on Afghanistan
In December 2021, I asked Ambassador Dan Smith to lead an ex post review of the State Department’s fulfillment of its obligations related to the termination of the US military mission in Afghanistan. The After Action Review covers the period from January 2020 to the end of August 2021 and the completion of the US military withdrawal. I have conducted this review because I believe we have an obligation to our staff, our institution, our partners in Congress, and the American people to learn from the lessons of this chapter of US foreign policy.
The After Action Review, which we are now making available to relevant congressional committees, provided a number of insights into how the department planned and conducted its missions during this time. It also contained detailed recommendations that we are already working on implementing. These include strengthening the ministry’s overall emergency planning, crisis preparedness and responsiveness.
The State Department’s greatest asset is its people, which include an exceptional group of dedicated and talented professionals who have worked tirelessly on the field in Kabul, Washington and elsewhere at home and abroad to evacuate and evacuate as many people as possible during this time to support. Their efforts and the efforts of all of our department who have served in Afghanistan for over two decades, as well as our Afghan partners who have served alongside them, deserve our highest praise and gratitude, and we continue to honor them through our future work.
