Harris' role in Afghanistan withdrawal a mystery despite being 'last person in the room' with Biden

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Vice President Kamala Harris' influence on the botched withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan remains unclear publicly despite her previously confirming she was the "last person in the room" with President Biden before he made the decision. 

According to a new Washington Post report, officials say Harris did not push for policy change but did raise some important questions during interagency meetings in early 2021 before what resulted in a chaotic 17-day evacuation from Kabul and a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians at Hamid Karzai International Airport's Abbey Gate,.

The vice president, now the Democratic presidential nominee, acted "like a district attorney" while asking questions during the deliberations but did not provide much insight into what she was thinking, one senior military official who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Post. 

"She never gave a sense for where she was on it," the official told the newspaper.

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Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Philadelphia International Airport to attend a campaign event on Aug. 6, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Despite that account, another former military official who participated in the administration's deliberations at the time told the Post he does not remember Harris "playing any role of significance" during meetings of the National Security Council that Biden led in 2021. The official did admit that the vice president could have counseled Biden outside those briefings.  

In a statement to the Post, a Harris aide said the vice president asked, "probing questions" during deliberations in which she was fully involved before the withdrawal and "strongly supported President Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war." 

"We’re not going to get into the Vice President’s private counsel to the President," the aide added. 

Positioning herself as a vice president who is closely involved in the administration’s key matters, Harris confirmed to CNN in 2021 that she was the "last person in the room" with Biden before his decision to withdraw U.S. troops and effectively end more than 20 years of war in Afghanistan. 

While campaigning for president in 2019, Harris said she wanted to "ensure that the country is on a path to stability, that we protect the gains that have been made for Afghan women and others," according to the Post. 

Gold Star families of U.S. military members killed at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan in August 2021 speak during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

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When Biden's presidency began in 2021, Afghan official Nader Nadery, who served as an adviser to then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said he hoped Harris would help persuade Biden to keep some U.S. troops in the country until the Taliban could agree to a peace deal. With the Taliban's seizure of power came the erosion of women's rights, and Nadery questioned whether Harris had tried to convince Biden to change direction. 

"I hoped that President Biden listened to her and other voices who advocated for Afghan women," he reportedly said of the withdrawal.  

Taliban fighters control access to the Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, Aug. 25, 2021. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)

Republicans and former President Trump have criticized Biden's handling of the withdrawal, especially after Biden's stunning omission of the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate during the June presidential debate in Atlanta, where he claimed to be the "only president this century" and in "this decade" who did not have "any troops dying anywhere in the world." 

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Attendees of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month heard from the families of those service members, who condemned how Biden never publicly said the names of their loved ones. 

Now, as the Democratic ticket pivots to Harris and her newly selected running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, criticism of the vice president on the Afghanistan withdrawal has not gained similar traction. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Harris' campaign and the vice president's office for comment, but they did not immediately respond.