According to the findings of an internal report cited by AFP, US officials during the mass evacuation from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 were hampered by unclear decision-making, a lack of centralized crisis management and a confused public message.

Completed more than a year ago but released only on Friday, ahead of a long US holiday weekend, the State Department report calls for reforms, including defining single responsibility for future crises and separating emergency planning from political planning.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken ordered the audit after scenes of chaos at Kabul International Airport in August 2021, when the US military staged a mass evacuation operation following the Taliban’s return to power.

The report lauded the success of this mass airlift, which evacuated 125,000 people, including 6,000 US citizens.

But it also noted that the operation faced “major problems” related to the fact that senior officials in the administration of President Joe Biden “did not make clear decisions” in advance about the evacuation of at-risk Afghans.

“Constant changes in directives and a public message from Washington (…) contributed to the confusion,” he added.

However, Joe Biden inherited more visa applications from his predecessor Donald Trump’s administration, which also reached an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw the US, the report said.

According to US intelligence estimates, Afghanistan’s pro-Western government will retain control of Kabul for “weeks, if not months.”

“Fear of sending the wrong signal, especially one that could indicate that the United States no longer trusts the Afghan government and thus hasten its downfall, has hindered some preparation and planning for the crisis,” the report explained.

Recently, the press reported on such preparations by the US in case of a possible crisis in Taiwan.