National Security Council spokesman John Kirby took to the White House podium Monday to launch a scathing attack on the report released by Representative Mike McCaul's House Foreign Affairs Committee detailing the causes of the fiasco that was the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021; Blistering House GOP Report on Afghanistan Withdrawal Concludes Biden Ignored Advisors, Lied to America.

The report explored the abject failure of the Biden White House to take into consideration terror threats or develop contingency plans for locating and evacuating US nationals and Afghans who were entitled to refugee status.

1. The Biden-Harris administration was determined to withdraw from Afghanistan, with or without the Doha Agreement and no matter the cost. Accordingly, they ignored the conditions in the Doha Agreement, pleas of the Afghan government, and the objections by our NATO allies, deciding to unilaterally withdraw from the country. 
2. The Biden-Harris administration prioritized the optics of the withdrawal over the security of U.S. personnel on the ground. For that reason, they failed to plan for all contingencies, including a noncombatant emergency evacuation (NEO) and refused to order a NEO until after the Taliban had already entered Kabul. 
3. The Biden-Harris administration’s failure to prepare for a NEO and order a timely NEO created an unsafe environment at HKIA, exposing U.S. Defense Department and State Department personnel to lethal threats and emotional harm. As a result, 13 U.S. servicemembers were murdered by a terrorist attack on August 26, 2021. It was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2012. 
4. In the aftermath of the withdrawal, U.S. national security was degraded as Afghanistan once again became a haven for terrorists, including al Qaeda and ISIS K. America’s credibility on the world stage was severely damaged after we abandoned Afghan allies to Taliban reprisal killings — the people of Afghanistan we had promised to protect. And the moral injury to America’s veterans and those still serving remains a stain on this administration’s legacy. 
5. The Biden-Harris administration misled and, in some instances, directly lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal, from before the go-to-zero order until today. This coverup included mid-level administration officials all the way up to the Oval Office. And as this investigation reveals, the National Security Council and NSA Jake Sullivan were of the source of the majority of that misinformation campaign.

McCaul followed up the release of the report with a press conference accompanied by Gold Star families from the Abbey Gate tragedy.

BACKGROUND: Outraged Mike McCaul Holds Presser on Afghanistan Report: 'Catastrophic Failure of Epic Proportions'

Making the whole episode more surreal was that one of the report's recommendations was for people deserving of official condemnation by Congress. One of those was "John Kirby, Former Defense Department Spokesperson; Current White House National Security Communications Advisor."

Kirby was having none of it. There is one part of this briefing that will "live in infamy, and " it is this.

QUESTION (09:04): And on the going back to sort of accountability and after action. Was anyone ever held accountable by the president directly for what happened with the withdrawal in Afghanistan, and if not, remind the audience why not?

KIRBY: We have all held ourselves accountable for the progress of the withdrawal across the administration, and it was a true inter-agency effort uh to get those 120,000 people out and to, uh, make sure we removed our diplomats and our military personnel safely. Um, as I said, Ed, not everything went according to plan nothing ever does, um, and we mourn the loss of those 13 lives at Abbey Gate every single day here um their sacrifice doesn't, doesn't, uh, is not forgotten um but again uh we, we hold ourselves all accountable for that.

What is interesting about Kirby's statement is the way it directly contradicts the juvenile letter issued by a group no one has ever heard and signed by nine generals or admirals and one Marine Corps sergeant major; see Shadowy National Security Group Tries to Absolve Harris of Responsibility for Afghanistan and Fails. That letter claims that the Biden-Harris White House did not have a plan:

Then, he left President Biden and Vice President Harris with no plans to execute a withdrawal, and with little time to do so. This chaotic approach severely hindered the Biden-Harris Administration’s ability to execute the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our service members and our allies at risk.

Clearly, if President Trump had wanted to bring the troops in Afghanistan home for Christmas, there was a plan, somewhere, for making that happen even if it was never put into execution. According to Kirby, the Biden-Harris national security team didn't start working on their own plan until "spring of 2021," which implies April/May.

As to Kirby's claim of accountability, I'm sorry, writing an internally authored whitewashed after-action report absolving yourself of blame and point a finger at a guy who left office seven months before the events is not accountability. Not a single perpetrator of this disgraceful operation either resigned or was fired. They patted themselves on the back, gave themselves medals, and went on to screw up more stuff. The spectacle of one of the leading voices of the White House disinformation and misinformation campaign on the Afghanistan withdrawal accusing anyone of deception simply boggles the mind and proves irony is dead.