Young, Duckworth Effort to Create Independent Afghanistan War Commission Gains Bipartisan Support in the Senate

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) introduced the Afghanistan War Commission Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA). This bipartisan legislation would establish a nonpartisan, independent commission to conduct a comprehensive examination of the war in Afghanistan and deliver recommendations to avoid these mistakes in the future.

“Our country invested two decades in Afghanistan only to see it collapse in a matter of days. It is essential that Congress examine what occurred both in the Biden Administration’s disastrous withdrawal and over the last 20 years to ensure we learn all that we can about how this occurred. I am proud to join Senator Duckworth to introduce the Afghanistan War Commission Act as an amendment to the NDAA. Assembling a nonpartisan Commission that cuts through the bureaucratic processes and helps us craft recommendations about where we go from here will be instrumental in keeping Americans safe.” said Senator Young.

“The War in Afghanistan was shaped by four different administrations and 11 different Congresses—no party should be looking to score cheap, partisan political points off a decades-long nation-building failure that was bipartisan in the making,” said Senator Duckworth. “Congress owes the thousands of American servicemembers who sacrificed in Afghanistan a serious, honest and long-term effort devoted to bringing accountability and transparency, and I’m glad Senator Young is joining my effort to create an independent, nonpartisan commission aimed at ensuring we learn from mistakes made over 20 years in Afghanistan and implement reforms to ensure those mistakes are never repeated.”

The bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission Act would:

• Examine all U.S. combat operations, intelligence actions, diplomatic activities and the interagency decision-making and coordinating processes used in the War in Afghanistan. The commission would span the entirety of the War—from the September 11, 2001, attacks until the conclusion of the military evacuation on August 30, 2021;
• Study the use of authorities for conducting the Afghanistan War, the effectiveness of Congressional oversight efforts and the strategic decisions made throughout the course of the war;
• Investigate actions by all U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Defense, Department of State and the Intelligence Community. It would also examine the U.S. efforts with our allies and partners;
• Ensure its members are nonpartisan and chosen in equal numbers by the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate committees of jurisdiction for Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs. The Commissioners would be experienced policy professionals from all corners of the federal government with no direct history of involvement in operational or strategic decision-making in the Afghanistan War to ensure objectivity;
• Provide lessons learned and actionable recommendations in a public and unclassified report, with a classified annex for Intelligence Community matters. The report would allow the United States to learn from our experience in Afghanistan and ensure those mistakes are never repeated; and
• Issue biennial reports to Congress on the status of declassification efforts to ensure classified findings and recommendations are eventually released to the public.

Legislative text can be found here.