Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Tuesday that the Defense Department was preparing to convene a Special Review Panel to fully and thoroughly investigate the disastrous withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
Hegseth <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/full-accountability-hegseth-promises-review-of-bidens-botched-afghanistan-withdrawal">promised</a> early on that the DoD would review every bit of available information and deliver accountability after the previous administration, under President Joe Biden, presided over the chaotic evacuation of civilians and troops through Hamid Karzai International Airport — which resulted in the deaths of 13 American service members and grievous injuries to dozens more. Tuesday&#8217;s announcement made good on that promise.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Memo regarding the Review of the U.S. Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan. <a href="https://t.co/2V7Dt8biOm">pic.twitter.com/2V7Dt8biOm</a>
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1924885591075795254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Defense Department also posted a press release on Tuesday detailing the plans for the panel and noting that the deeper investigation would be spearheaded by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs — and Army Ranger veteran — Sean Parnell.
&#8220;Three and a half years ago the Biden Administration&#8217;s disastrous and embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and 170 civilians in a suicide bombing at the Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate. President Trump promised accountability for what transpired during that military withdrawal, and I am committed to delivering on that promise,&#8221; the release from Hegseth&#8217;s office read.
&#8220;We have an obligation to the American people and to the warfighters who fought in Afghanistan to get the truth &#8211; and we will. Today, I am directing the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell to convene a Special Review Panel for the Department into the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Sean Parnell spent 485 days serving in Afghanistan. Sean was wounded in action along with 85% of his platoon and lost countless friends to the War on Terror. It is fitting that he will lead the effort to reexamine previous Abbey Gate investigations conducted by U.S. Central Command during the Biden Administration.&#8221;
Hegseth also noted several others who would be included in the investigative team: &#8220;In addition, Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, a combat-decorated Marine officer who spoke out about the Afghanistan withdrawal, and Jerry Dunleavy, an author, journalist, and investigator who helped lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation into the Afghanistan withdraw, will serve on the Special Review Panel. Sean and his team will look at the facts, examine the sources, interview witnesses, analyze the decision making, and post-mortem the chain of events that led to one of America’s darkest moments. Sean and his team will provide updates at appropriate times to keep the American people informed of our findings and any directed actions resulting from our review.&#8221;
Previous investigations have determined that Biden&#8217;s firm insistence on reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan on his timeline had forced the military to accommodate a withdrawal through HKIA in Kabul rather than the more easily-defended <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-matter-the-cost-biden-harris-admin-pushed-afghanistan-withdrawal-despite-warnings-committee-finds">Bagram Air Base</a> — and that the chaos of attempting evacuations amid a busy urban environment had resulted in assets and allies being abandoned in addition to setting the stage for the terror attack at Abbey Gate.

250130-D-PM193-1594_(54295724002) copy

Pete Hegseth To Launch Probe Of Biden’s Afghanistan Debacle

Afghanistan

Joe Biden

Military

Pete Hegseth

Politics

The Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for all Afghan refugees on Monday, paving the way for the deportation of tens of thousands of Afghans living in the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-terminating-temporary-protected-status-for-afghanistan#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%93%20Secretary%20of%20Homeland%20Security,effective%20on%20July%2012%2C%202025." target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that improving conditions in Afghanistan have made it possible for the refugees to return home. The Biden administration brought in around 76,000 Afghans following the U.S. military&#8217;s disastrous withdrawal from the country in 2021 under the orders of President Joe Biden. Most of the Afghan refugees were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghan-evacuees-resettled-us-texas-california-virginia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resettled</a> in Texas, California, and Virginia.
&#8220;This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,&#8221; Noem said. &#8220;We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation. Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country.&#8221;
Following the Trump administration&#8217;s move, deportation protections for Afghans will expire in 60 days, which is the minimum time allowed by law after the notice is filed.
Between 2010 and 2022, the Afghan population in the United States skyrocketed from 54,000 to 195,000. It&#8217;s unclear how many of those nearly 200,000 Afghans received legal permanent residency or citizenship in the United States. In 2006, the United States <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/afghan-immigrants-united-states-2022#:~:text=In%20the%20past%20decade%2C%20the,top%20country%20for%20Afghan%20migrants." target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, which sought to help Afghan and Iraqi translators who helped the U.S. military receive their green cards. The federal government expanded the SIV program in 2009 to apply to any Afghan national who was employed by the U.S. government.
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021 created another crisis for Afghan nationals who sought to quickly flee the country. Immediately after the United States evacuated Afghanistan, the country came under the control of the Taliban, which imposed harsh laws targeting Christians, certain Muslims, and those who were friendly toward the United States. The Taliban also took away any semblance of women&#8217;s rights, severely restricting how women dress and act in public.
Noem&#8217;s reasoning for ending TPS for Afghans cited Chinese tourism returning to the country and reduced warfare. Some remain <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/president-trump-protect-christian-afghan-refugees-who-fled-here-escape-martyrdom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concerned</a>, however, that religious minorities who are forced to return to Afghanistan will face persecution or even martyrdom.
Afghanistan also continues to face widespread food insecurity, but Noem wrote in her <a href="https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-08201.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a>, &#8220;Though humanitarian need remains prevalent, the number of those in need of assistance has declined to 23.7 million this year, a decrease from the more than 29 million Afghan nationals in need reported the previous year.&#8221;

Kristi Noem

Trump Admin Ends Deportation Protections For Tens Of Thousands More Refugees

Deportations

Donald Trump

Immigration

Refugees

Trump Administration

When it comes to the United States and our allies, one of the great failures of American foreign policy since the end of World War II is this bizarre idea in the United States that if our allies are imperfect, it somehow makes sense to abandon them. 
This is what we did in Vietnam. Our allies were imperfect, so we abandoned them, and then the Viet Cong took over. The same thing happened in Afghanistan, where our allies were seriously imperfect. And by imperfect, I mean there were a lot of terrible people involved in the Northern Alliance, along with tremendous corruption in Afghanistan’s government. The Taliban, it turns out, were significantly worse. 
So when it comes to determining what&#8217;s happening with Russia and Ukraine and what should happen next, the question is less about whether Ukraine is perfect. It certainly is not. The questions are: What exactly does Russia want? What is in America&#8217;s best interest?
I can tell you what is not in America&#8217;s best interest: a larger, more powerful Russia. In determining how to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war that originally broke out in 2014 with the Russian takeover of the Donbas and Crimea, and then was reignited by the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022, it&#8217;s simply not enough to try to figure out what the “rational middle ground” looks like. 
What the Trump administration is currently trying to do is find a solution. Well, you can find a solution, but unless you have a way to actually implement the solution, any solution you propose is meaningless.
No matter how hard you try, you cannot impose the solution from the outside in the way the United States would if, for example, we had boots on the ground — and we don&#8217;t want boots on the ground. That means you somehow have to get the Russians to the table. Both sides need to be at the table. The Ukrainians are at the table. Right now, however, the Russians are not at the table.
America is not the dominant force in the region, nor do we want to be. However, the Ukrainians being at the table means it&#8217;s now time for the Russians to come to the table. So, how do you get them there? 
As Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned in our interview, he&#8217;s already agreed to an immediate three-day ceasefire. The Russians have not.
He&#8217;s already agreed to a rare earth minerals deal with the United States that is heavily slanted toward the United States.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2186?elementPosition=0&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
We already know what the Ukrainians want. They want the Russians to stop the war. Again, Ukrainians did not start this war — they did not cross the Russian border.
They want security guarantees, more durable security guarantees than the ones they gave in 1994 to give up their nuclear weapons. The Ukrainians want security guarantees that are material realities, not just promises.
The Ukrainians have already figured out that European and American promises tend to fade over time. They gave up their own nuclear weapons for a promise that the U.S. and the UK would respect Ukrainian territorial sovereignty, and it didn&#8217;t work out very well for them.
The Ukrainians want the freedom to pursue a closer relationship with the EU and NATO. That makes sense because the Russians continue to press while the Ukrainians want to press back the other way.
President Zelensky basically wants what happened at the end of the Korean War: an armistice. In 1953, South Korea and North Korea drew a line and created a demilitarized zone. They agreed to a cessation of hostilities and repatriation of peace. Then the war ended.
Officially, the war is still active but in practice the war ended because North Korea understands that if it crosses the South Korean border, it will be obliterated, partially because of the American troops stationed on that border.
Now, to be clear, the Ukrainians are not asking for American troops to be stationed on their border, but they&#8217;re ready for an armistice today. They do want security guarantees. We know what they want. They&#8217;re at the table.
The real question in all of this, the question that people do not want to ask, is what exactly do the Russians want? What would bring the Russians to the table?
Well, we actually know what the Russians want.
According to a speech Vladimir Putin gave last June, he wants:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">No NATO membership for Ukraine, ever.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ukrainian recognition of Crimea and Donbas as Russian territory.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Ukraine&#8217;s demilitarization and what he calls “Denazification.” What he really means is he wants the installation of a puppet regime in Kyiv and the lifting of all anti-Russia sanctions.</li>
</ol>
That’s just called surrender.
Now, Ukraine can&#8217;t surrender her entire government and autonomy and live at the whim of Vladimir Putin, who has literally killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians in an aggressive war and kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainian children into Russia.
So again, I ask, what would get Russia to the table?
Now, Steve Witkoff is supposedly a magical negotiator. President Trump has deployed him to Iran, Gaza, and now Ukraine, and seems to think that either Ukraine is the problem or that Russia can be wheedled into dropping its core demands, and that if you tweet hard enough at them, Vladimir Putin will suddenly become friendly. Witkoff and the administration are now threatening to walk away from negotiations if the two sides don&#8217;t come together.
This misses the entire point.
Russia would love for that to happen. They want the war to continue, because when Russia says they want negotiation, that&#8217;s code for they want a continuation of the war.
What they want is either to take giant chunks out of Ukraine until they eat the whole thing over time, or they want the war to continue until the West gives way.
Why? Because Ukraine is extraordinarily key to Russia&#8217;s entire vision of itself as an empire. And that empire is geared in absolutely irremediable fashion against the United States of America.

TOPSHOT-RUSSIA-POLITICS-PUTIN-INAUGURATION

What Exactly Does Russia Want?

Ben Shapiro

Opinion

President Trump

Russia

Steve Witkoff

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

A CNN panel discussion went off the rails on Wednesday after a guest who had served in President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration claimed that then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had &#8220;never compromised American lives.&#8221;
Dan Koh, who was the White House Deputy Cabinet Secretary during the Biden administration, began the exchange by suggesting that military leadership in President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration was putting people at risk and &#8220;no one was facing consequences.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s when people check out and realize that their democracy may not be what they thought it was,&#8221; Koh continued.
WATCH:
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This is one of the most BRUTAL exchanges I&#39;ve ever seen on CNN.
LIB: &quot;Secretary Austin never compromised American lives&#8230;&quot;
JENNINGS: &quot;13 American lives?! They were more than compromised, they were ENDED.&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/ScottJenningsKY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottJenningsKY</a> does not miss. <a href="https://t.co/0Ag73R2ZuK">pic.twitter.com/0Ag73R2ZuK</a>
&mdash; Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) <a href="https://twitter.com/jason_howerton/status/1907790239482945557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Republican commentator Scott Jennings pushed back, noting that Koh &#8220;held a high-ranking position with Joe Biden.&#8221;
&#8220;Yes, I did, you did with George W. Bush,&#8221; Koh replied.
&#8220;Did you recall a single person in your White House or in your Democratic Party asking for the resignation of Lloyd Austin after Afghanistan, after the drone strike vaporized those kids, or after he went AWOL, yes or no?&#8221; Jennings asked, referencing the fact that Austin had been in charge when the Biden administration had closed Bagram Air Base and evacuated everyone — both military and civilian — through the crowded international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. The end result of that decision was a chaotic withdrawal that left American equipment behind, American allies at the mercy of Taliban leaders who immediately took power, and a suicide bombing that killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghan citizens.
&#8220;Secretary Austin never compromised American lives,&#8221; Koh replied, but the words had barely left his mouth when everyone at the table began talking at once.
Exclamations came from all directions: &#8220;That&#8217;s a no,&#8221; &#8220;He did,&#8221; and, &#8220;Thirteen of them.&#8221;
Jennings looked straight at the camera in apparent disbelief for a split second before he joined the fray, exclaiming, &#8220;Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen American lives were more than compromised. They were ended!&#8221;

Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meets At Ramstein Air Base

Biden Official Claims Lloyd Austin ‘Never Compromised American Lives’; All Hell Breaks Loose On CNN

Biden Official Claims Lloyd Austin 'Never Compromised American Lives'; All Hell Breaks Loose On CNN

Media

CNN Republican commentator Scott Jennings laid into the Democrats who are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth&#8217;s ouster over the Signal-chat SNAFU that resulted in The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg being added to a chat group discussing military strikes on Houthi terrorists.
In the wake of President Donald Trump&#8217;s assurance that he does not plan to fire anyone over the Signal incident, Jennings joined Sunday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; and pointed out the hypocrisy of Democrats who were calling for Hegseth&#8217;s head despite remaining silent when military leadership under President Joe Biden made decisions that resulted in the deaths of 13 American service-members. He also pointed out the fact that many had remained silent when then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin effectively went AWOL — leaving a subordinate in charge while he was hospitalized, but failing to apprise even the White House of the situation.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨Scott Jennings lays out the plain facts to Dems calling for firings over Signalgate —
JENNINGS: “The bar for firing people like this is really high from the last administration when after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a disaster, people died.&quot;
&quot;No accountability was… <a href="https://t.co/eE5n3liLIk">pic.twitter.com/eE5n3liLIk</a>
&mdash; Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1906350055574966505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;If you&#8217;re trying to assess &#8216;what should we do about it,&#8217; I hear Democrats arguing, &#8216;Well, we should fire Pete Hegseth,&#8217; or, &#8216;We should fire the National Security Adviser,'&#8221; Jennings began. &#8220;The bar for firing people like this is really high from the last administration when after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a disaster, people died, no accountability was meted out. After the drone strike that vaporized those poor kids and that family, no accountability. After the secretary of defense went AWOL, no accountability.&#8221;
&#8220;So if you&#8217;re arguing today that we should get rid of Pete Hegseth over a small mistake regarding communications — even while he was expertly executing this military operation against the Houthi rebels, which also the Biden administration didn&#8217;t take up, I just ‚ I don&#8217;t have a lot of time for that argument,&#8221; Jennings continued.
Another panelist pushed back, arguing that by taking questions and calling for a review, Austin had provided &#8220;accountability.&#8221;
Jennings was not convinced: &#8220;Did a single Democrat ask for his resignation?&#8221;

25th Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting

‘No  Accountability’: Dems Calling For Hegseth’s Ouster Trip Over AWOL Lloyd Austin

Lloyd Austin

Scott Jennings

Signal

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) was grilled during an interview on Friday for calling on Trump defense officials to resign over their use of a Signal chat group given that he never called for Biden defense officials to resign when they had major screwups.
Coons made the remarks on CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk Box&#8221; when pressed by co-host Joe Kernen over his calls for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz to resign while he remained silent during the Biden years with regard to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
&#8220;Did you call for Lloyd Austin&#8217;s resignation?&#8221; Kernen asked. &#8220;Not only did we lose 13 service members, we left $70 billion worth of equipment that fell into the hands of the Taliban. Couple of years later, he was out of pocket for two weeks and didn&#8217;t tell the White House.&#8221;
&#8220;Did you ask for him to resign at this point?&#8221; he pressed. &#8220;Are you actually asking for Hegseth and Waltz to resign when you didn&#8217;t ask for Lloyd Austin?&#8221;
Coons claimed that Austin not do anything that put United States national security at risk by getting health care treatment despite not notifying anyone about his hospitalization and surgery for cancer.
&#8220;What about Afghanistan? What about Afghanistan?&#8221; Kernen pressed. &#8220;Did you guys forget that? Is the statute of limitations is over for 4 years?&#8221;
Coons ignored the question and instead continued to talk about Austin&#8217;s surgery for cancer.
Kernen continued to press Coons about Afghanistan, noting that in the past, he had referred to Biden&#8217;s disastrous withdraw as a success.
&#8220;Afghanistan was not a success,&#8221; Kernen said.
Coons continued to deflect by starting to talk about the Houthis.
&#8220;I am not saying that the attack on the Houthis was not a success,&#8221; Coons said. &#8220;I am saying that he demonstrably violated a directive that was just shared in the Pentagon about don&#8217;t use Signal for classified information, it is not reliably secure. And one of the folks on that group chat was in Russia at the time that that information being &#8212; look, all of us use apps like WhatsApp and Signal.&#8221;
Kernen called out Coons for deflecting: &#8220;You&#8217;re running out the clock on Afghanistan.&#8221;
Coons then proceeded to blame President Donald Trump for Biden&#8217;s disaster, even though he admitted that actions that were taken under Biden&#8217;s leadership were &#8220;badly handled.&#8221;
When asked if he should have called for Austin to resign over the debacle, Coons responded: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know whether Lloyd Austin is the person who should have been held accountable for it, but there should have been accountability.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Joe Kernen destroys Senator Chris Coons over the Signal hoax:
“Did you call for Lloyd Austin’s resignation? Not only did we lose 13 service members, we left $70B worth of equipment… He was [under anesthesia] and didn’t tell the White House. Did you ask for him to resign?” <a href="https://t.co/Gwb3NUh756">pic.twitter.com/Gwb3NUh756</a>
&mdash; johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) <a href="https://twitter.com/_johnnymaga/status/1905590858264571914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senate Lawmakers Return To Capitol Hill After Weekend

Chris Coons Grilled Over Hypocrisy In Calling For Resignations Of Trump Officials

Biden Administration

Chris Coons

ABC News host Sunny Hostin tripped over several of former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin&#8217;s glaring shortcomings and strategic blunders in her efforts to trash current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over a Signal chat group that accidentally included Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
Hostin declared on Thursday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;The View&#8221; that nothing akin to the Signal chat mishap had happened while Austin was leading the Pentagon, and argued that was just proof that she had been right when she claimed Hegseth was &#8220;unqualified&#8221; to lead America&#8217;s military.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sunny Hostin claims nothing like this happened under former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin&#39;s watch. She ignored how his incompetence led to 13 service members killed at Abbey Gate. She also boasted about disgraced former Secret Service boss Kimberly Cheatle resigning after the… <a href="https://t.co/ej5bzE4ZJG">pic.twitter.com/ej5bzE4ZJG</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1905279509667983688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;You know, the thing is we all knew that Hegseth was unqualified for this job and he replaced a four-star general with over 40 years of experience, Lloyd Austin,&#8221; Hostin began. &#8220;And this would not have happened and did not happen on Lloyd Austin&#8217;s watch.&#8221;
&#8220;But what I will say is, to your question initially, Whoopi, these people need to be fired,&#8221; Hostin added. &#8220;They need to be held accountable. I remember when, following the July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when there was an assassination attempt on the president&#8217;s life, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said, &#8216;The buck stops with me,&#8217; and she resigned. She resigned. She didn&#8217;t put it on anyone else.&#8221;
&#8220;Pete Hegseth is the person that is responsible — yeah — he&#8217;s the person, as the Secretary of Defense, he is responsible for everything,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;It was his decision to use that group chat to type out this highly sensitive information.&#8221;
Hostin failed to mention the fact that Austin was the one in charge when American troops were ordered to abandon Bagram Air Base — which could have been more easily defended — and funnel all military and civilian evacuations through the congested streets of Kabul and Hamid Karzai International Airport. That decision left Americans and Afghans alike vulnerable when a suicide bomber attacked near Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021, killing 13 U.S. service members and some 160 civilians — and wounding hundreds more. Not one person in the Biden administration has been held responsible for that — but Hegseth and his team have promised that &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/accountability-will-be-coming-secdef-promises-to-investigate-bidens-afghanistan-boondoggle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accountability will be coming</a>.&#8221;
Hostin also left out the fact that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pentagon-inspector-general-announces-review-of-austin-going-mia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Austin effectively went AWOL</a> (Absent WithOut Leave) for days, leaving a subordinate in charge while he was hospitalized, but failing to apprise the chain of command — namely the White House — of his situation.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

‘The View’ Host Steps On Afghanistan-Sized Rake In Her Rush To Slam Hegseth Over Signal Story

'The View' Host Steps On Afghanistan-Sized Rake In Her Rush To Slam Hegseth Over Signal Story

ABC News

Sunny Hostin

The View

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it had secured the release of 66-year-old George Glezmann, a U.S. citizen who has been held captive by the Taliban since 2022.
&#8220;Today, after two and a half years of captivity in Afghanistan, Delta Airlines mechanic George Glezmann is on his way to be reunited with his wife, Aleksandra,&#8221; Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
&#8220;George joins American Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, who were released from Afghanistan on the night of President Trump’s inauguration and returned home to their families,&#8221; he continued.
Glezmann was visiting Kabul as a tourist when he was detained by the Taliban on December 5, 2022, and held without cause or being charged, according to the <a href="https://jamesfoleyfoundation.org/hostage/george-glezmann/#gsc.tab=0">Foley Foundation</a>. He was in Afghanistan to fulfill his dream of visiting every country, having already been to &#8220;well over 100,&#8221; the group said.
A resident of Atlanta, Georgia, Glezmann has had very limited contact with his family while in captivity, and his health has &#8220;deteriorated significantly while he had been in detention, and he has medical issues that require immediate care.&#8221;
Rubio said that Qatar played an &#8220;instrumental&#8221; role in getting Glezmann released after he was detained by the Taliban nearly a year and a half after former President Joe Biden&#8217;s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
&#8220;George’s release is a positive and constructive step,&#8221; Rubio added. &#8220;It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will continue his tireless work to free ALL Americans unjustly detained around the world.&#8221;
Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who assisted in the effort, said that the Taliban decided to free Glezmann as &#8220;a goodwill gesture&#8221; to President Donald Trump and the American people.
&#8220;@realDonaldTrump has made the freedom and homecoming of Americans held abroad a high priority,&#8221; he <a href="https://x.com/realZalmayMK/status/1902720314989064667">posted</a> on social media. &#8220;It is an honor to assist in this important effort.&#8221;

President Trump Participates In A Kennedy Center Board Meeting And Tour

Trump Admin Secures Release Of U.S. Citizen Held Captive By The Taliban

Global Politics

Marco Rubio

Taliban

A government inspector general on Wednesday sounded the alarm about problems with the now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and underscored how “non-government organizations” receive billions of dollars from the United States in corruption-prone regions with limited accountability.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a new report that “since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the U.S. government has spent billions of U.S. taxpayer funds on projects intended to provide for Afghans’ basic needs.”
The report said the State Department and USAID have turned to Public International Organizations, its term for NGOs, “as the primary means of delivering this aid,” but “have been inconsistent in their efforts to formally require PIOs to agree to U.S. government oversight on how funding is spent and whether projects are delivering intended results” rather than being “diverted to the Taliban.”
For example, the USAID Mission to Afghanistan’s standard contract with NGOs did not require them to permit American officials to visit to see what they were actually doing.
USAID had a contract with a third-party monitoring group whose visits it could have used as the next-best thing to American eyes on the ground, but it seemingly paid that group without actually having it do any visits, the <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/Portals/147/Files/Reports/Audits-and-Inspections/Performance-Audits/SIGAR-25-16-AR.pdf">inspector general’s report</a> said.
USAID seemed to simply trust the groups receiving the money, which were often partnerships with foreign governments. That didn’t always go well.
For example, USAID funded the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for a “water, sanitation, and hygiene project in Afghanistan&#8221; in 2024. It never bothered to visit. The inspector general did, and “found numerous issues that UNICEF did not report to USAID. Had USAID conducted site visits, it could have identified these deficiencies and asked UNICEF to address them.”
Likewise, State Department units in highly sensitive areas, such as the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs/ Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, paid for programs whose operators wouldn’t even let their benefactors check on them.
The weapons removal office did not make site visits part of its contracts, and some beneficiaries, including the UN Mine Action Service, “refused site visits.” Those visits would have been helpful because it turned out that the groups weren’t always forthcoming. The UN Mine group at one point “suspended activities due to Taliban officials attempting to renegotiate the PIO’s operating agreements,” but didn’t tell the State Department until months later.
Only one out of five State Department bureaus reviewed by the inspector general included language in its standard contract saying “the recipient agrees to allow access for site visits by USAID and/or its agents as necessary.”
The State Department also does not require PIOs to report instances of “diversion,” which means “instances of waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, coercion, aid diversion, and interference” by groups like the Taliban.
USAID is supposed to require its contractors to report such misconduct, but “USAID/AFG included an optional diversion reporting clause in only some of its project contributions.”
“Without diversion reporting, USAID and State will not know the true extent to which the Taliban is interfering with and benefiting from U.S. funded activities,” the inspector general said.
State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the weapons removal office “do not include a reporting diversion clause in their agreement templates,” meaning “the bureaus may not be receiving timely reporting on incidents of diversion or interference” despite the obvious potential for fraud or deadly interference by terror-supporting groups.
Some instances of that are known. For example, in 2024 the Taliban asked State Department beneficiaries to make a list of people who were receiving benefits, and to let the Taliban be involved in selecting who would benefit. The Taliban also forced the NGO to suspend “mental health and psychosocial support activities, as well as suspension of a female youth center.”
State’s narcotics office (INL) may have also had a casual attitude towards aid diversion and transparency.
“When we asked INL for information about aid diversion in May 2023 and February 2024, it claimed to have no information. However, in September 2024, INL provided us with an October 2023 report from the Colombo Plan that outlined eight instances of Taliban interference,” it said. “The bureau learned about these instances through meetings in December 2022 and January 2023. INL did not explain why it did not share this information when we asked.”
The inspector general said the Secretary of State should require all agreements to allow site visits, and develop a standard process for beneficiaries to report fraud or misconduct.
“Monitoring projects through periodic site visits (including by third party monitors) is an essential management tool to help ensure that U.S. taxpayer money is not being wasted on projects that are not meeting their intended goals or that are undermined by interference by the Taliban,” it said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that most of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-announces-83-of-usaid-programs-cancelled-musk-calls-move-tough-but-necessary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USAID has been abolished</a>, and its remaining programs will be moved to State. That decision came following concern that its grants and contracts often amounted to slush funds for nefarious international actors.

Trump And Musk’s USAID ‘Shut Down’ Threat Opens Door For China

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President Donald Trump announced during his Tuesday night address to Congress that the United States had apprehended a terrorist behind the 2021 attack that killed 13 American service members during a bombing at the Abbey Gate in Afghanistan.
Trump said that ISIS-operative Mohammad Sharifullah had been detained and would soon face the &#8220;swift sword of American justice.&#8221; Sharifullah is suspected to have planned the bombing that killed 13 American soldiers and 170 Afghan nationals as the Biden administration withdrew from Afghanistan.
&#8220;Three-and-a-half years ago, ISIS terrorists killed 13 American service members and countless others in the Abbey Gate bombing during the disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not that they were withdrawing, it was the way they withdrew,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. Tonight I&#8217;m pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.&#8221;
Trump thanked Pakistan for its assistance in capturing Sharifullah.
The soldiers killed were Marines Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Petty Officer Third Class Maxton W. Soviak, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss.
Trump added that he had talked to many of the parents and loved ones of the victims of the attack before his speech on Tuesday.
The capture was confirmed by FBI Director Kash Patel.
&#8220;As President Trump just announced, I can report that tonight the FBI, DOJ, and CIA have extradited one of the terrorists responsible for the murder of the 13 American soldiers at Abbey Gate during the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. One step closer to justice for these American heroes and their families,&#8221; he posted on X.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ripped into Democrats for not standing during the announcement.
&#8220;President Trump just announced the terrorist mastermind behind the Abbey Gate Bombing, which killed 13 US Service Members, has been apprehended and will soon come to America to face justice. Democrats did not stand or clap. Despicable people,&#8221; Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/PressSec/status/1897131270305730577" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.

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President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke briefly on Wednesday about plans to go ahead with an investigation into former President Joe Biden&#8217;s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
The topic was raised by a reporter at Wednesday&#8217;s cabinet meeting, who asked whether any of the leadership involved in planning that withdrawal had been relieved of duty or fired yet.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
. <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecDef</a> “We’re doing a complete review of every single aspect of what happened in the botched withdrawal in Afghanistan and plan to have FULL ACCOUNTABILITY!” <a href="https://t.co/HUkLRKqs6r">pic.twitter.com/HUkLRKqs6r</a>
&mdash; DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/DODResponse/status/1894808972596543580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Have all the generals and command staff that were involved with the withdrawal fired or relieved of duty?&#8221; the reporter asked.
&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s a great idea,&#8221; Trump said, prompting laughs, before he deferred to Secretary Hegseth. &#8220;If I were — sorry, I&#8217;m not going to tell this man what to do, but I will say that if I had his place, I&#8217;d fire every single one of them.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s a very good question,&#8221; Trump continued, to more laughter.
&#8220;That&#8217;s a question we&#8217;ve thought a lot about,&#8221; Hegseth said. &#8220;We&#8217;re doing a complete review of every single aspect of what happened with the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan and plan to have full accountability.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s one of the first things we announced to the Defense Department for that reason, Sir,&#8221; Hegseth told the president. &#8220;Certainly, General Razin&#8217; Caine, who&#8217;s on his way in, was not a part of that — instead, was a part of leading the effort against ISIS by untying the hands of warfighters and finishing the job properly and then bringing our troops home.&#8221;
&#8220;So we&#8217;re taking a very different view, obviously, than the previous administration,&#8221; Hegseth concluded. &#8220;And there will be full accountability.&#8221;
Trump jumped back into the conversation, getting more laughs when he added, &#8220;I don&#8217;t see big promotions in that group. I think they are going to be largely gone.&#8221;

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‘Full Accountability’: Hegseth Promises Review Of Biden’s Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal

'Full Accountability': Hegseth Promises Review Of Biden's Botched Afghanistan Withdrawal

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