The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko said that they estimated in reports that the Afghan government could not survive after the withdrawal of US troops.  

“You could not believe the Afghan government was going to survive, particularly when we withdrew our troops, particularly when we withdrew our air support and particularly when we withdrew the contractors,” he told the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform. “I don’t really know who would actually have thought the Afghan government was going to survive.” 

Speaking at the same event, the acting Inspector general of the US Department of State, Diana Shaw, said that while the embassy’s emergency evacuation-planning activities in the lead-up to the evacuation generally complied with applicable standards, the department simply was not fully prepared for the full range of challenges they encountered. 

According to Shaw, there were several contributing factors.

She said that the embassy’s leadership operated on an understanding that diplomatic operations would continue in Afghanistan after the military withdrawal.  

She also said communication with embassy personnel was unclear.  

A US representative from California, Barbara Jean Lee, said that the US is responsible for a lot of the “harm caused” in Afghanistan and the US must work to repair that harm.  

“We have an obligation to aid our allies who support our American forces as well as their families,” she said.