Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Sean Parnell, the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, to conduct another review of the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The botched withdrawal from Afghanistan has been a main point of criticism from President Donald Trump against his immediate predecessor, former President Joe Biden. He and his administration found the Biden-era investigation into the withdrawal inadequate, leading Hegseth to commission another investigation under Parnell.
“Three and a half years ago the Biden Administration’s disastrous and embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and 170 civilians in a suicide bombing at the Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate. President Trump promised accountability for what transpired during that military withdrawal, and I am committed to delivering on that promise. We have an obligation to the American people and to the warfighters who fought in Afghanistan to get the truth – and we will,” he said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“Sean and his team will look at the facts, examine the sources, interview witnesses, analyze the decision making, and post-mortem the chain of events that led to one of America’s darkest moments. Sean and his team will provide updates at appropriate times to keep the American people informed of our findings and any directed actions resulting from our review,” Hegseth added.
He also announced that former Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy and Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller will serve on the special review panel.
Dunleavy worked at the Washington Examiner as a reporter from 2019 to 2023 until his departure to work as a senior investigator with the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation into the August 2021 withdrawal. He publicly resigned from that position in August 2024, publishing an open letter accusing the committee of stonewalling his investigation.
Dunleavy said that for a year, he pushed the committee to “do the right thing” and run a “serious” investigation in pursuit of the truth. However, he said, “It has become undeniably clear to me that [Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX)] & his team are unwilling to take even the most basic steps necessary to ensure that President Biden, [former Vice President Kamala] Harris, & all the top Biden-Harris diplomatic & national security & military leaders are made to answer for the horrors which unfolded & continue to unfold in Afghanistan & around the world.”
“The Committee’s disappointing lack of courage & lack of moral clarity just cannot go unremarked,” Dunleavy added.
Mike Brest contributed to this story.
