Former US Centcom official says he never saw an Afghanistan evacuation plan

Republicans have ramped up oversight of the August 2021 withdrawal

Afghans struggle to reach foreign forces in an attempt to flee the country at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. EPA

A former top Central Command official told a congressional committee on Thursday that he never saw an Afghanistan evacuation plan in the lead-up to the hasty US withdrawal from the country in August 2021.

House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul asked Centcom's former special operations chief of staff, retired Col Seth Krummrich, if he had ever seen an official evacuation plan from the administration amid high-level talks on the withdrawal.

“I did not. The discussions were going on at this high level,” Col Krummrich told the committee.

“The problem was those that would need to actually plan and rehearse it were extremely busy … with how busy and how few service members we had on the ground.

“They were not in a position to be able to plan and rehearse.”

The hearing is another instalment of the Republican-controlled House committee's bid to ramp up its oversight of President Joe Biden's handling of the withdrawal and the end of the war, which saw the Taliban retaking Kabul.

Mr McCaul has hosted several Afghanistan-related hearings that have sought to paint a picture of a “dereliction of duty” by a divided Biden administration.

Mr Biden has blamed his predecessor, Donald Trump, for cutting a deal with the Taliban that all but ensured a hasty retreat under a compressed timeline.

The State Department After-Action Report, released last month, showed the administration had failed to adequately plan for a worst-case scenario in the chaotic withdrawal.

The report pointed to a State Department caught flat-footed when the Taliban rolled into Kabul on August 15 with almost no resistance, triggering a massive US-led evacuation.

Mr McCaul last week subpoenaed the State Department in a bid to obtain documents related to the Afghanistan withdrawal report, accusing Mr Biden's administration of “obstruction”.