♪ announcer: washington journal continues. host: joining us for our next half hour is jonathan landay, national security correspondent with reuters.

this report from the state department was dropped the friday before the fourth of july holiday. here is redhead line. the 20 afghanistan evacuation critical of both president biden and former president trump. what were the takeaways? guest: that was one of the major takeaways. the reason is because the white house issued its own reports back in april that we were told included, or summarized, both this state department report and a defense department after action review that looked at the way the defense department performed in the evacuation and withdrawal from afghanistan. at this report has been classified. we have not seen that report.

nevertheless, what was striking is the fact the state department criticized president biden as well as president trump. but the white house report that we were told it fed into lacked any of that criticism of president biden and basically blamed the chaos of the withdrawal in 2021 on failures of the trump administration host: -- administration. host: why was the biden administration at fault and why was the trump administration fault guest: -- fault? guest: it was president trump who entered into the withdrawal deal with the taliban in return for very little else. it was supposed to lead to peace talks between the taliban and

the then western-backed government it's happened. president trump had been trying to withdraw troops all along until the end of his administration into their work successive troop drawdowns which, in the end, left only about 2000 troops on the ground in kabul mostly. where they were basically in charge of guarding the embassy but also the airport. when the biden administration was sworn in, there were no plans that the trump had left or prepared for this withdrawal. the report false president biden for taking actions, which includes his decision to follow through with the withdrawal,

albeit later than the taliban stipulated. this withdrawal had serious impacts on the ability of the western-backed government and the current president to not only maintain power but run the country which led to its collapse. the reports blames both president biden and president trump for taking actions that undermined the security of the then government. host: from the reports, the decisions of both president bide and president trump to end the u.s. military mission in afghanistan has serious impacts on the security. the afterction review team

found that durinboth administrations, there was insufficient senior level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow. what does this mean? "insufficient senior level consideration"? guest: all along, there were expectations based on the intelligence committee sessions that at the very least, kabul would be able to hold out against the taliban advance. it had been rapid over the previous months. based on that, there was no, according to this report, worst-case scenario planning, i.e. that couple could collapse faster than what was expected and the government could collapse and flee the country. there was little or no senior

level involvement in contingency planning for the worst-case scenarios which is what we eventually saw. one thing to note is the white house report did talked about multiple planning sessions at the national security council and consideration of more than worst-case scenarios, yet did not say anything about senior level involvement in that planning. the after action report finds both administrations had no or little senior level involvement in planning for the worst-case scenario that could accompany a u.s. withdrawal and the evacuation of americans and other foreigners and at risk

>> one has to rumor they came into office in january, facing a may deadline that had been agreed by president trump for a complete withdrawal of u.s. forces. that wave them five months, less than five months, to put together what ended up being the

largest, most complicated troop withdrawal and civilian evacuation operation mounted. there were no plans left on the shelf by the trump administration for such a withdrawal and evacuation, so they had to cope with that themselves in a restricted amount of time. plus, let's not forget, it was in the middle of the covid pandemic when covid was impacting not just the united states government here, personnel here, but also the embassy in afghanistan. that interfered with their ability to put together or participate or plan this

incredible evacuation operation. one of the things the court does note, it does note that despite covid and other issues, the embassy staff performed valiantly. so, there are recommendations at the end of this report how to deal and prepare an operation in the viewer. host: i want to invite our viewers to join in. your questions or comments about the withdrawal and fall of afghanistan. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us as well, include were first name, city and state to (202) 748-8003. john, remind our viewers what

happened when -- how did the withdrawal happen and what happened? describe the fall of afghanistan. guest: there has been weeks before the taliban moved on couple -- kabul, they had been taking over at an unexpected pace, the provinces in provincial capitals. the afghan national security forces were effectively in a state of collapse. the government was fumbling, unable to prevent this collapse of military the united states had spent aliens of dollars in building an army. as the taliban moved towards kabul, the biden administration, which had not met the may deadline that president trump had agreed to for a complete

u.s. withdrawal -- moved into this withdrawal and evacuation, embassy staff, other civilians and foreigners and at risk afghans. tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, millions of afghans in some way, shape, or form had worked for the u.s. government, the u.s. military or foreign military. some were deemed to be at risk. one of the things the report finds with the state department is the failure to determine which categories of afghans should be evacuated as -- right up until the time the evacuation hit, nor had they determined replacements for these afghans to go. as the taliban closed on kabul,

this evacuation was launched and towards the end, the government effectively quit, left the presidential palace, left their offices and the taliban moved into kabul last evacuation was underway -- as the evacuation was underway. that required handling on the ground by u.s. diplomats and military personnel. in some ways, the taliban did cooperate in trying with the evacuation of the foreigners. there were real problems in that, because of the legacy they had left their, their rule in the 1990's, which ended with the u.s. invasion. afghans went into panic stricken

, this was a fundamentalist, islamist movement that had imposed this incredibly authoritarian system on the country in the 1990's. people remembered that. people remembered -- afghans remembered how women were treated under the taliban. we have seen now a replication of the treatment of women by this movement. so, there were throngs of tens of thousands of afghans trying to get out, trying to get into the international airport, which is in the city. thronging the parameters of the airport. at one point, tragically, and islamist state suicide bomber made his way into the middle of this throng outside of a gate called abby gate and k