A year after Biden's Afghanistan exit, accountability in short supply

As weary U.S. military planners wrapped up the evacuation and pullout from Afghanistan one year ago, officials across the government steeled themselves for intense public scrutiny into how America's longest war ended in shambles with the Taliban retaking power.

But as the United States marks the first anniversary of the withdrawal this month, some U.S. officials and experts say President Joe Biden's administration has moved on without properly assessing lessons from the 20-year war and the Taliban victory.

Nor has there been public accountability for the chaotic evacuation operation that saw 13 U.S. service members killed at Kabul's airport and hundreds of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghans left behind, they said.

"We need to open up that ugly history book called the 20 years in Afghanistan and see why we fail," said John Sopko, the U.S. special inspector general tapped with tracking some $146 billion in reconstruction aid.