The independent work group tasked by Congress with creating a definitive accounting of the war in Afghanistan has released a first report on its work — and it reveals it’s already encountering hurdles that could jeopardize its ability to deliver in the appointed timeline.
The 57-page interim report, published Aug. 22, lays out a timeline for its work through 2026, and highlights three major research priorities: identify overarching objectives for Afghanistan and their effects on combat operations; evaluate the effectiveness of military operations in achieving policy objectives; and examine the work to man, train and equip the Afghan military, and “the circumstances leading to their disintegration in 2021.”
In evaluating the successes and failures of the 20-year war, though, staff are realizing they’ll need to process a large volume of documents classified at the highest level. And that represents a challenge for the civilian-run commission, one based out of a headquarters building in an Arlington, Virginia high rise, not a government compound.
The report indicates that some of the commission’s 51 full-time staff and commissioners are still securing the security clearances needed to handle classified materials. And while its leased office space is certified for operations at the Secret level — the middle of the three clearance echelons — it does not have a reserved and dedicated space for reviewing documents at the Top Secret level.
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“The commission appreciated the prioritization placed by the Office of Senate Security on clearance processing for commissioners and staff,” the report states.
But it adds that it still requires classified IT support, a need conveyed to the Defense Department in February that still remains unfilled.
“In particular, the commission has an acute need for the timely provision of computers that can store and process information up to the [Secret/No Foreign Nationals] level, on which much of the commission’s work will be drafted,” the commission’s report notes. “Relatedly, the commission requires computers that can store and process information up to the [Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information] level to complete its research and analysis of more sensitive material.”
The commission, according to the report, also lacks a dedicated Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, a workspace equipped to handle material of all classifications without risk of security breach. It expects to get a leased space later in September through an arrangement with the Defense Department, and has until now been able to work on a limited basis in secure spaces owned by the Senate.
Ultimately, the commission’s tight timeline — to finish all research and interviews and deliver a comprehensive written report with its findings in August 2026 — is at risk, the interim report warns.
“While the commission is encouraged by the Department of Defense’s efforts to date, any further delay in reaching a solution will adversely impact our ability to deliver the thorough accounting of the Afghanistan War that the American people deserve,” the report’s authors write. “The timely resolution of this issue is vital to the successful execution of the commission’s mandate.”
In a statement to Military Times, commission spokesman Matthew Gobush declined to say how many commissioners and staff still needed to obtain security clearances. He also demurred from discussing alternatives to the commission’s stated timeline.
“The commission is working closely with the Department of Defense on outstanding items pertaining to operational readiness,” Gobush said. “We believe [DOD] is acting in good faith. As noted in the report, we are encouraged by the progress made to date but continue to approach the requirement with a sense of urgency. We fully intend to deliver the comprehensive, detailed report that Congress commissioned and the American people deserve by the statutory deadline.”
The interim report offers new information about the makeup of the commission’s staff team as well. Of 35 full-time staff, 18 hold analyst positions. Two staff each have research and writing-focused titles. Other jobs include specialists in military operations, intelligence assessment, diplomacy and Afghanistan outreach.
The caliber of the staff and commissioners is impressive. Members include author Anand Gopal, a finalist for the Pulitzer and the National Book Award; Chris Molino, who along with family members spent a total of 159 months serving in Afghanistan; and former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
To date, according to the interim report, the commission has held meetings with 20 senior government officials and been briefed by more than 30 offices in the Defense Department, State Department, and other government entities.
But with 29 specific aspects of the war to analyze and cover, plus an additional requirement to assess the U.S. military’s counter-corruption and counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan, the scope of the project increasingly comes across in the report as unwieldy. It uses the word “ambitious” three times, and “daunting” once to describe its task.
“It’s important that we get this work right to understand what happened in Afghanistan, but also to rationalize it within our broader society,” Commissioner Luke Hartig, a former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, said in a statement published in the report.
But whether the commission has the time and resources necessary to get it right appears more in question now than ever.
