It remains publicly unclear what influence VP Kamala Harris had in the failed withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, despite her previously acknowledging that she was “the last person in the room” before President Biden made the decision to withdraw.
new Washington Post report, Officials say Harris did not push for a policy change but raised some key questions during an interagency meeting in early 2021 that led to a chaotic 17-day evacuation from Kabul and a suicide bomb attack at the Abiy Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghan civilians.
The vice president and Democratic presidential nominee acted “like a district attorney” when asking questions during the deliberations but didn’t reveal much about what he was thinking, a senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post.
“She never revealed where she was,” an official told the paper.
Kamala Harris silences anti-Israel protesters during campaign speech in Michigan: ‘I’m making a speech’
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Philadelphia International Airport to attend a campaign event on August 6, 2024. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Despite that explanation, another former military official who was involved in the administration’s deliberations at the time told The Washington Post that he didn’t recall Harris “playing any significant role” at any National Security Council meetings led by Biden in 2021. The official acknowledged that the vice president may have advised Biden outside of those briefings.
In a statement to The Washington Post, a Harris aide said the vice president was fully involved in pre-withdrawal deliberations, asked “insightful questions” and “strongly supported President Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war.”
“I’m not going to go into the vice president’s advisors to the president,” the aide added.
Harris has positioned herself as vice president closely involved in key administration matters, admitting to CNN in 2021 that she was “the last person in the room” before Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, effectively ending the war that has lasted more than two decades.
During the 2019 presidential campaign, Harris said she wanted to “put the country on a path to stability and protect the gains made by Afghan women and others,” according to The Washington Post.
A Gold Star family member of a U.S. soldier killed at Abbey Gate, Afghanistan, in August 2021 speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 17, 2024. (Andrew Caballero Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
Harris and Walz make unprecedented abortion clinic visit ahead of presidential campaign collaboration
Once Biden takes office in 2021, Nader Naderi, an Afghan official who served as an adviser to Afghanistan’s then-president Ashraf Ghani, said he hoped Harris would help persuade Biden to keep some U.S. troops in the country until the Taliban agree to a peace deal. The Taliban’s rise to power has led to violations of women’s rights, and Naderi questioned whether Harris was trying to convince Biden to change course.
“I hope President Biden will listen to her and other advocates for Afghan women,” she was quoted as saying about the withdrawal.
Taliban fighters control access to Abiy Gate at Kabul airport, Afghanistan, on August 25, 2021. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)
Republicans and former President Trump have criticized Biden’s handling of the withdrawal, particularly after he made a surprising failure to mention the 13 U.S. soldiers killed at Abbey Gate during a June presidential debate in Atlanta. Biden claimed during the debate that he was “the only president in this century and this decade that has had no dead soldiers anywhere in the world.”
Click here to get the FOX News app
Attendees at last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee heard from military families who criticized Biden for never publicly naming their loved ones.
With the Democratic field now focused on Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, criticism of the vice president over the Afghanistan withdrawal has not gained the same momentum.
Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ campaign and the vice president’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
