Army does not have commission to investigate Afghanistan withdrawal

There is currently no Army commission to examine the withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a service spokesman.

"The Army has not established a review board to study the final withdrawal from Afghanistan," Jason Waggoner, the service spokesman, wrote in a Sept. 13 email to Inside Defense.

He did not respond to a question about whether the Army might establish a review board in the future.

The Marine Corps has announced plans to review the withdrawal after a suicide bombing killed 13 soldiers at the airport in Kabul. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger had initially said the service would create its own commission, but later clarified that headquarters staff would run the review, rather than a formal commission.

The Senate Armed Services Committee released a schedule last week for a series of hearings on the withdrawal. The defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the combatant commander whose area of responsibility covers Afghanistan will testify Sept. 28.