GOP report on Afghanistan withdrawal faults Biden and could add fuel to presidential debate

A report by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee claims that the Biden administration prioritized "optics" over safety and misled the American people during the deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

"It could have been prevented if the State Department did its job by law and executed the plan of evacuation," Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the Republican-led panel, said Sunday on Face the Nation. "They left these 13 service men and women hanging out to dry."

Democrats on the committee said they were not involved in producing the report, and disagreed with its findings.

Since the chaotic scene in Kabul in 2021 — when a suicide bomber killed more than 100 Afghans trying to flee the Taliban, as well as 13 of the U.S. service members trying to help them — Republicans have frequently criticized President Biden for how the administration handled the evacuation.

Former President Donald Trump has turned the attack on Vice President Harris in the election, as the three-year anniversary passed on Aug. 30. The White House rejects the claim of mismanagement and notes that former President Donald Trump set the withdrawal in motion when his administration made a widely criticized deal with the Taliban in 2020, known as the Doha Agreement.

The report comes after years of investigation and interviews. The panel said the Biden administration determined it would withdraw from Afghanistan with or without the Doha Agreement — the conditions set for the Taliban to precipitate the removal of U.S. forces.

Committee Republicans also claimed that the chaotic withdrawal "degraded" U.S. national security.

The report's release comes a day before the first presidential debate between Harris and Trump. Harris' name is