Pentagon plans to declassify Afghanistan withdrawal documents

EXCLUSIVE: A new Pentagon review of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is expected to declassify previously restricted documents from past investigations, reopening scrutiny of key decisions made during the Biden administration’s botched exit from the country in 2021.

The review will include interview transcripts, internal documents and previous findings that officials said were overclassified, according to Pentagon adviser Stu Scheller.

“We plan to declassify all of the documents that we obtain in this investigation — all of the interview transcripts, all of the previous investigations conducted by the Biden administration that were overclassified,” Scheller told Fox News Digital. “We are going to declassify everything so that everyone can form their own opinion.”

Unlike previous studies that cataloged failures but did not identify individual responsibility, this Pentagon effort examines a broader set of documents and conducts in-depth interviews with senior military leaders and rank-and-file soldiers — a scope that officials say could reopen unanswered questions about who made key decisions during the 2021 drawdown.

“There will be responsibilities,” Scheller said.

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“We talked to many people, all the key generals…and we also interviewed thousands of young military personnel,” Scheller told Fox News Digital of the report. “One of the things they said was that they didn’t feel like their experiences were validated.”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly lambasted the previous Biden administration over the Abbey Gate tragedy that killed 13 U.S. service members, calling the 2021 withdrawal a “Biden disaster” and “the lowest point in our country’s history.” In May 2025, the administration ordered a new review of the Pentagon as part of what officials described as its push for accountability.

Scheller’s role in the review marks a striking turnaround for a Navy officer who had already been punished after publicly criticizing the military’s handling of the withdrawal.

Then a lieutenant commanding an infantry training unit at Camp Lejeune, Scheller gained national attention in August 2021 after posting a viral video in uniform demanding accountability from top leaders. He was relieved of duty, remanded in custody and later pleaded guilty at a court martial.

“I just felt like there was no other voice that would advocate for the emperor not to wear clothes,” Scheller said. “I didn’t do it randomly.”

“God was with me on that one. I got through it. Here I am influencing the changes I initially pointed out.”

British and US security forces maintain order among Afghan evacuees inside Abbey Gate in Kabul on August 25, 2021, during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Marcus Lam/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Previous investigations by Congress, the Pentagon and federal watchdog agencies identified a series of failures in the planning and execution of the withdrawal, including deficiencies in evacuation efforts, intelligence assessments and decision-making at the highest level.

A report from the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee found that the State Department failed to develop an evacuation plan for Americans and Afghan allies despite growing warnings that Kabul could fall, delaying evacuation efforts until the Taliban entered the capital.

The report also said that U.S. authorities were tracking credible suicide bombing threats in the days leading up to the Abbey Gate bombing — including intelligence pointing to a potential ISIS-K attack at the airport — but operations at the gate continued.

These conditions are currently being reexamined as part of the Pentagon’s review, including how the Marines’ actions on the ground were recognized.

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Scheller said his team focused early on the unit stationed at Abbey Gate, where several Marines had been nominated for higher awards that were later downgraded during the approval process.

“They had actually submitted awards that had been downgraded. So we didn’t create these awards from scratch,” Scheller said. “These seven awards were submitted and we had the official documents from the original editorial.”

Evacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 23. (Sgt. Isaiah Campbell/U.S. Marine Corps)

The improvements affected the Marines of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, including cases where commendation medals were elevated to include valor devices and, in one case, a Bronze Star was upgraded to reflect heroism in combat.

The Abbey Gate bombing killed 13 US service members and more than 150 Afghans, marking the deadliest day for US forces in Afghanistan in years.

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The Biden administration has defended its handling of the withdrawal, arguing that the decision ended America’s longest war and avoided further American casualties, while accusing critics of politicizing the issue.

A spokesperson for former President Joe Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.