KABUL (Pajhwok): The chaotic US military pullout from Afghanistan has been tied to the failure of its diplomats to anticipate the 2021 regime change in the country.
“The department simply was not fully prepared for the full range of challenges encountered,” senior State Department official said o Wednesday.
Appearing before lawmakers, Acting State Department Inspector General Diana Shaw said: “The critical question, of course, is why?”
Shaw told the House Oversight Committee the US embassy’s strategy to deal with diplomatic alarm over the Ghani administration’s fate after the American exit led to the absence of fallback plans.
The New York Post quoted her as saying: “As oversight professionals and as legislators, we must grapple with the ongoing ramifications of those events.”
The US embassy in Kabul was not ready to evacuate the number of individuals it ultimately did, the State Department official said.
The embassy’s leadership operated on an understanding that diplomatic operations would go ahead after the military withdrawal, Shaw said..
PAN Monitor/mud
