How the Chaotic U.S. Withdrawal of Afghanistan Came to Be

The end of America's longest war brought with it the immediate collapse of the Afghan government and a Taliban takeover of the country.

Who's to blame?

This week, FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely and Deputy Managing Editor Rob Farley laid out a comprehensive timeline of the major events leading up to the U.S. withdrawal. It includes a rundown of key diplomatic decisions, military actions, presidential pronouncements and expert assessments.

In short, the review shows that two presidential administrations — that of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden — were determined to end the 20-year war, and forged forward despite obvious signs that the Taliban was violating its February 2020 agreement with the U.S.

For example, in May 2020 and August 2020 reports, the Defense Department inspector general's office, respectively, noted that the Taliban had escalated violence after signing the report and that it continued to support al Qaeda.

Such warnings that the Taliban was not operating in good faith continued.

Nevertheless, Trump reduced U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Biden moved forward with the withdrawal. In April, Biden pushed back the original May 1 deadline for final withdrawal to Sept. 11. (Trump criticized the delay and said that the withdrawal should "keep as close to that schedule as possible.")

The Taliban, meanwhile, made its intentions known. In June, a spokesperson for the group said its goal was to create an "Islamic government" after foreign forces left the country.

Still, Biden assured Americans last month that a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was "not inevitable," and denied that U.S. intelligence assessed that the Afghan government would likely collapse. But it did — and quickly.

Read the full story, "Timeline of U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan."

Reader: Your fact check of "Tucker Carlson Misleads on COVID-19 Vaccines, Masks."

Obviously this fact check is incorrect. I will use the following article to refute it. 
“35,000 Americans Getting Symptomatic COVID-19 per Week Despite Being Vaccinated: CDC.”

There is also this [CDC] article that proves that masks are ineffective and that people can become symptomatic after receiving the vaccine.
“Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021” 

Please give us real information and not politically biased information.

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: No vaccine is 100% effective. But multiple studies show the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective at prevent severe disease, even against the delta variant. The vast majority of people in the U.S. who are dying or hospitalized because of COVID-19 are unvaccinated. If you want the facts about the effectiveness of the vaccines, I suggest you read, “Vaccines Remain Largely Effective Against Delta Variant, Counter to Claims From Fox News Guest,” which was written by our science editor, Jessica McDonald.

You also provide a link to the CDC’s July 30 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which documented an outbreak of COVID-19 among 469 people in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and say that that study proves “masks are ineffective and that people can become symptomatic after receiving the vaccine.” You are right that some vaccinated people can become symptomatic. As I said, no vaccine is 100% safe. But you are wrong to say the CDC study proves that masks are ineffective. In fact, the CDC study you cite says: “Findings from this investigation suggest that even jurisdictions without substantial or high COVID-19 transmission might consider expanding prevention strategies, including masking in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status…” For the facts about masks, I suggest you read “A Guide to the CDC’s Updated Mask Recommendations.” 

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "CDC Document Discusses Strategy To Protect Displaced People From COVID-19": A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document reviews the challenges of using a "shielding" approach to protect high-risk people living in places such as refugee camps from COVID-19. But conservative commentator Candace Owens misinterpreted it to mean the agency was proposing putting high-risk Americans into camps, falsely likening it to "1930’s Germany."
   
• "On Facebook, Fake Stories Use Fox News Hosts to Hawk Dubious CBD Products": A round of fictitious stories masquerading as news articles from Fox News — invoking the names and faces of prominent hosts on the channel — and other outlets have been used in recent weeks to hawk dubious products through paid Facebook advertisements.
   
• "Biden Leaves Misleading Impression on U.S. Debt": In promoting his own spending priorities, President Joe Biden blamed his predecessor’s "unpaid tax cuts and other spending" for increasing the national debt by nearly $8 trillion over four years. The total debt figure is correct, but trillions of that were due to bipartisan coronavirus relief packages.
   
• "Marine General Supports Vaccinations for Military": The secretary of defense announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory for all service members by mid-September. But social media posts have shared an article from a dubious website that falsely claimed that the leader of the Marines “rebuked” the vaccine mandate. A Marine Corps spokesperson told us “there is no truth” to the claim.
   
• "Tweets Misrepresent Border Data": There has been a monthslong rise in illegal border migration. But some Republicans overstate the number of people encountered by immigration officials crossing the border illegally.
   
• "Hospitals Overwhelmed by Another Surge of COVID-19 Patients, Financial Strain": The seven-day average of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. has increased by 322% in two months, straining the ability of medical staff in some states to care for patients. Despite the rising numbers, an Instagram post questioned whether COVID-19 is “truly a pandemic that was ‘overwhelming hospitals,'” if hospitals are firing nurses who refuse to be vaccinated.
   
• "Misinformation About Face Masks": A growing body of evidence supports the use of masks to slow the spread of COVID-19. But the effectiveness of masks is now being challenged again. Here we summarize some of our work over the past 16 months, based on categories of misinformation about masking.

• "Documento de los CDC evalúa estrategia para proteger a personas desplazadas del COVID-19": Un documento de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades analiza los desafíos de usar una estrategia de “resguardo” para proteger del COVID-19 a personas de alto riesgo que viven en campos de refugiados y entornos similares. Pero la comentarista conservadora Candace Owens malinterpretó el documento para insinuar que lo que la agencia estaba proponiendo era poner a estadounidenses de alto riesgo en campamentos, comparándolo erróneamente con la “Alemania de los años 30”.
   
• "Usan secuenciación para identificar delta y otras variantes del coronavirus": Los investigadores usan secuenciación genómica, no los ensayos clínicos empleados para diagnosticar a los pacientes con COVID-19, para identificar y rastrear variantes específicas del nuevo coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, incluyendo la muy contagiosa variante delta. Pero mensajes virales intentan negar la existencia de la variante al afirmar equivocadamente que “no hay una prueba para identificar la ‘Variante Delta’”.