Civic Register
| 12.28.21
Afghanistan War Commission to Be Established by Congress
Do you support or oppose the establishment of the Afghanistan War Commission?
What’s the story?
- The federal government is poised to undertake a first-of-its-kind review of the war in Afghanistan after Congress passed legislation establishing an independent commission to conduct it.
- Congress passed the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2022 this month with votes of 363-70 in the House and 89-10 in the Senate. It reached President Joe Biden’s desk on December 23rd and will soon become law.
- Aside from authorizing spending levels for the Dept. of Defense’s various programs, the NDAA sets defense policies and this year’s edition included a bipartisan provision to establish the commission.
- The independent Afghanistan War Commission will be tasked with reviewing the entirety of the U.S. and NATO presence in Afghanistan. It will also review the years of Taliban control prior to 2001, when the U.S. intervened to root out al Qaeda following the 9/11 terror attacks that were plotted in Afghanistan, and the coalition’s withdrawal in 2021.
- The commission will examine key strategic, diplomatic, and operational decisions related to the war in Afghanistan, including decisions, assessments, and events that preceded the war. It will also develop lessons learned and recommendations that will inform future decisions by policymakers.
- It will be composed of 16 members appointed by the party leaders in each chamber and the bipartisan leadership of the armed services, foreign relations, and intelligence committees. Current members of Congress and those who served in office during the war in Afghanistan, senior military officers and cabinet officials who served during the war, defense contractors, and individuals who previously investigated Afghanistan war policy would be ineligible to serve on the commission.
- The commission will submit a progress report to Congress within one year of its first meeting and will submit a final report within three years of the initial meeting, although it can obtain a one-year extension with permission from the bipartisan leadership of the relevant congressional committees. Reports on declassification of materials in the report will be required within four years of its submission.
- The bipartisan architects of the commission in the Senate, Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Todd Young (R-IN), praised its inclusion in the FY2022 NDAA.
- Duckworth said in a statement that, “Congress owes the thousands of American servicemembers who sacrificed in Afghanistan a serious, honest and long-term effort devoted to bringing accountability and transparency to the mistakes made during the 20-year war that was shaped by four administrations and 11 Congresses.”
- Young told the Military Times in an email:
“Working through this commission, we must also understand what led to the sudden collapse of the Afghan government following our disastrous withdrawal. This will examine what went right, what went wrong, and hold those responsible for their actions.”
RELATED READING
- How Many Americans and Afghan Allies Were Left Behind in Taliban Territory? (Updated 12/16/21)
- What is the Over-the-Horizon Counterterrorism Strategy for Afghanistan? (11/13/21)
- Taliban Rejects U.S. Cooperation Against ISIS-K in Afghanistan (10/14/21)
- Defense Chiefs’ Testimony Contradicts President Biden’s Claim That No Military Advisors Warned Against Afghanistan Withdrawal (9/28/21)
- Taliban Announces Gov’t Including U.S.-Designated Terrorists, 4 of ‘Taliban 5’ Released From Guantanamo Bay (9/8/21)
- What is the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) Program?
- U.S. Ends War in Afghanistan, Concludes Military Evacuation From Kabul: ‘We Did Not Get Out Everybody We Wanted to Get Out’ (8/30/21)
- Kabul Evacuation Overview (8/15 - 8/30/21)
- Pentagon Releases Names of the 13 American Servicemembers Killed in the Kabul Terror Attack (8/30/21)
- Bipartisan Lawmakers & NATO Allies Urge Extension of August 31st Withdrawal Deadline to Ensure Evacuation of Afghan Allies (8/24/21)
- America’s NATO Allies Criticize Afghanistan Withdrawal - ‘Biggest Debacle NATO Has Suffered’ (8/23/21)
- President Biden Takes Questions on the Fall of Afghanistan, Evacuation From Kabul (8/21/21)
- National Security Officials Warn of Renewed Terrorism Threat From Afghanistan Following Taliban Takeover (8/19/21)
- Biden Moves Up Afghanistan Withdrawal Date From September 11th to August 31st (7/9/21)
- U.S. Military Withdraws From Bagram Air Base as Afghanistan Drawdown Continues (7/3/21)
- Biden Sets September 11th Withdrawal Date From Afghanistan, Drawing Bipartisan Criticism (4/14/21)
- Defense Chief Announce Plan to Implement President Trump’s Troop Drawdown in Afghanistan and Iraq (11/17/20)
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: DOD photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Gipe, U.S. Army via Flickr / Public Domain)
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Rather than waste more taxpayers money, how about spending some money helping seniors who have worked all their lives? How about making property taxes end at age 65 or when the homeowners retire? How about limiting the Medicare increase to no more than the COLA? (This year it went up 18%, rather negating the 5.9% COLA, especially with a 10%+ inflation). Seniors worked for their Social Security, but Congress allows it to go to people who have never earned it.
We all know why it failed the current administration. Are cowards and have no back bone . To stand up to anyone .
I have no objection to this commission if it actually produces a bipartisan, factual review, conclusions and lessons learned. I am concerned that this will instead be marred, watered down, and distorted by political concerns. The stories told by and to our news sources and politicians during the run-up to the war during the war - most of whom have no military service to include George Bush, Jr. who brought us to war having only had National Guard experience - and the politicians and members of the international press were striking. I do have concern that the commission will become another political football. After all, if Liz Cheney can be removed from her committee assignments and censured by her party merely for supporting efforts to discover the true story of the January 6 insurrection, it is not much of a stretch to imagine that unpalatable truths that might result in a political bruise will be unwelcome in their undiluted version.
As long as it doesn’t drag on like the endless war
Actually, I have to admit to being mostly apathetic because I have no confidence that a decisive conclusion will be drawn or that certain bureaucratic failures (individuals) will be held to account. With too many of these committees the results are paltry yet consume greats amounts of time and money which is a contributing factor to why our nation's infrastructure has been neglected for decades. Sometimes it seems like these committees only serve the purpose of building resumes for members of Congress.
This "Commission" will be another Democrat tool to harm GOP. Both Parties participated in there Middle East War nightmare. This Congress is much too political to be trusted with any investigation. GOP is allow Dems make a mountain out of the Jan 6 molehill, while ignoring the BLM, Antifa riots. One of the4m set fire to the "National Cathedral. GOP allowed a fraudulent 2020 election: Our Sacred Constitution grants sole, and complete authority over States' election laws to said State's lawmakers. You failed to stop the election corrupted by Judges, governors, and "election officials". If covid truly required changes to election procedures Each State should have convened their lawmaker to Constitutionally make such exceptions. Like would be King Biden's mandates This Congress is allowed Our Democratic Republic to be ruled over by Criminal not justly elected.
Lets be truthful.
Related: "Parents selling children shows desperation of Afghanistan "SHEDAI CAMP, Afghanistan (AP) — In a sprawling settlement of mud brick huts in western Afghanistan housing people displaced by drought and war, a woman is fighting to save her daughter. "Aziz Gul’s husband sold the 10-year-old girl into marriage without telling his wife, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family of five children. Without that money, he told her, they would all starve. He had to sacrifice one to save the rest. https://apnews.com/article/6edf1acfd3849773b3cf6be1c2eb61fa Unimaginably Horrifying!
will only end up more wasted money since you can't unring a bell
Ya, review the war! But congress needs to move forward with a voting rights law in this country, before we become like Afghanistan! We have Republicans in a number of states reducing voting rights to stay in power!
Wow, we wasted all that money fighting a war and now we're going to see WHY we were there. Just a thought, shouldn't we have figured that out BEFORE we got into the war and killed and maimed so many of our young service people.
Thank you for pointing that out, burrkitty! Important for all to know. Happy New Year! 🎈🎊🥂😊❤️😊❤️
🤷♀️ Maybe we shouldn’t allow the USA to have undeclared wars. Congress abandoned its responsibilities to declare war and the results have been losing every time. “Authorizing military force” is just a cop-out to avoid Congressional responsibility to declare war. How many wars have we lost since 1942? Were the current U.S. military actions in Syria or Yemen or Libya or Somalia or Niger declared by Congress? The wars in Afghanistan or Iraq: Were they declared by Congress? Was the Kosovo War in 1998 and 1999 declared by Congress? The Bosnian War, 1992-1995? Was the First Persian Gulf War of 1990 and 1991 declared by Congress? The 1989 invasion of Panama? The 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada? The Vietnam War? The Korean War? The answer to all of those questions is no.
Absolutely, Bob! 👍🏻👏🏻😊❤️
This will become a partisan weapon for Dems to "damage" GOP. Congress is no longer seeking Facts, or Truth. This Russian collusion witch-hunt, "Jan 6" insentient turinded Inyo an "instruction", Congress failure o investigate Bidens, Joe, Hunter, the rest's treasonous dealings with Communist China, Russia, and other not friendly "Nations", long with Congress' "validation" of the fraudulent 2020 election. Congress appears to be gearing up for another fraudulent election. Our Constitution places full, and sole authority over Each State's elections to said State's lawmakers. There is no Emergency cy, covid, or any situation that permits judges, Governors, Election Officials to alter, violate, or modify in any manner State's election laws.You got rid of Trump, but You may have doomed USA in doing it.
WTF? BIDEN LEFT IN DISGRACE!
Good breakdown and good idea. We need to know how we stayed there so long without accomplishing anything. And, we need to know what we further need to do.
Leslie: Great summary of the what and why of the Afghanistan War Commission. Thanks!
Useless waste of time and our taxpayers $$$. Nothing will come out of this except to throw blame.
I'm not sure what the point is. We can rehash the past all we want but it won't change anything. Especially in Washington. Hindsight is 2020 and I'm sure there will be lots of blame. Besides, it's dangerous to let people who don't know what they're doing, i.e. Congress, try to make sense of militrary decisions. How about focusing on current threats like China?