US ‘obligated’ to hold senior officials accountable for chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal

US Department of Defense (DOD) spokesman Sean Parnell said the Trump administration has an “obligation” to hold senior officials involved in the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan accountable. 

Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Parnell was asked whether the DOD would be firing or disciplining any remaining leadership directly involved in the withdrawal. 

“We’re in the process of figuring out what that investigation will look like,” Parnell stated. 

He said he had served in the military in Afghanistan and detailed how former President Joe Biden’s withdrawal had “horrified” him.

“I was horrified, in a lot of ways,” he said. 

“You think about how much time, and blood and treasure and American life that was lost in Afghanistan over 20 years, you think about that for a second — I’m 43 years old, and this country was at war in Afghanistan for 20 years.” 

“Almost half of my life, this country was at war in Afghanistan,” he said. 

“We bled the ground red in Afghanistan,” he said. “I watched my men do extraordinary things in support of a grateful nation and in support of a mission there, and to watch Afghanistan be surrendered in the way that it was, [it] was extremely difficult.”

“Will those people be held accountable?” Parnell continued. “I think we have an obligation both to the American people and to the warfighters who fought in Afghanistan to hold the leadership accountable in some way.” 

“Now, we don’t know what that looks like right now to hold the leadership of the Afghanistan withdrawal accountable,” he said. 

“If you have a private that loses a sensitive item, that loses night-vision goggles, and loses a weapon, you can bet that private’s going to be held accountable. The same and equal standards must apply to senior military leaders.”

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCOS) Gen. Mark Milley was involved in planning the withdrawal. His security clearance was revoked by US President Donald Trump in January.