Veterans give searing testimony on US withdrawal from Afghanistan at hearing

The House foreign affairs committee hearing was at times in tears as witnesses describe the chaos and panic of the 2021 US departure

Military members and veterans of the Afghanistan war offered harrowing eyewitness testimony of the chaotic and deadly withdrawal of US troops from the country’s longest conflict, during an hours-long congressional hearing on Wednesday. They implored lawmakers that it was not too late to aid Afghan allies left behind as the Taliban swept to power.

Speaking before the House foreign affairs committee, several witnesses recounted in searing, sometimes graphic detail, their experiences as active-duty service members sent to assist with the withdrawal as Kabul fell to the Taliban.