Chief Pentagon Spokesman and Senior Advisor to the Department of War Sean Parnell spoke to The Gateway Pundit at the Pentagon on Wednesday about his investigation into Biden’s failed Afghanistan withdrawal, revealing that he plans to publish a “completely unclassified” report in early 2026.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Department of War Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson delivered a press briefing to new media at the Pentagon on Tuesday, where she told The Gateway Pundit that the Department of War’s investigation, which Hegseth announced in May, is being led by Parnell and is expected to be completed by next summer.
Hegseth previously announced a “comprehensive review” of Biden’s failed 2021 withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which left 13 US service members dead.
But Parnell revealed in an exclusive interview that he hopes to have the report on his investigation “finished, out, published, completely unclassified” earlier than next Summer.
Parnell says he has a team of civilians and military members with “elite representatives” from the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, working with him on the investigation. He further emphasized that “the ultimate goal is to declassify everything for the American people.”
“There’s really no reason for it to have the classification level that it does,” he added. “Accountability is a core tenet of this mission.”
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, and CentCom Commander General Kenneth McKenzie all knew about the planned Kabul Airport terrorist bombing at Abbey Gate hours before the 13 service members were killed, and they knew US forces’ lives were at risk. Military leaders even knew the suicide bomber was in the area of the Kabul Airport, but top military brass would not let them take him out.
“Nobody’s immune,” Parnell said when asked if Biden’s top military leaders will be held accountable. “I think when the review is done, you’re going to see a whole hell of a lot more information come out about the scenario that you just outlined, about what we knew about the attack, the attacker, and how it unfolded, and how decisions were made.”
He continued, “The American people are going to get a front row seat to all of that,” and “along with the families who lost loved ones, they are going to learn a hell of a lot about what happened.”
When pressed on the public opinion that nothing will happen, as many become increasingly disillusioned about whether those in power will ever face consequences, Parnell replied, “Can you blame them?” and he reaffirmed that the Trump administration is “different” and will ensure that the American people “know that their government officials are held to the same standard as them.”
We also discussed the Department of War’s investigation into Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, who now faces a potential recall into active duty for court-martial proceedings after joining lawmakers in calling for service members to defy the President’s lawful orders. He confirmed that we can expect a decision on charges against Mark Kelly by December 10, in line with Hegseth’s deadline for Navy Secretary John Phelan.
He further responded to Mark Kelly’s recent tirade, claiming that “President Trump is threatening to kill me,” by slamming the “irresponsible, violent rhetoric from the Democrats.”
WATCH:
Watch the full interview below:
Full transcript below:
Conradson: As a former combat veteran who really finds this to be something that needs to be gotten to the bottom of, what can you tell us so far about your investigation? And can you confirm that summer 2026 we are going to see some accountability?
Parnell: It’s a great and important question, because I think, you know, over 20 years of war in Afghanistan, you had tens of thousands of Americans raising their right hand, volunteering to serve this country, rotating in and out of the fight. It’s not just the service men and women who were affected was also their families. And then you have 13 Americans that were killed during the botched surrender. So, I mean, I just think it’s very personal to me, having fought there, and it’s also a critically important mission to get it done and get it done right, to make sure that we’re being honest and transparent with the American people. So, to your first question, absolutely, the report will be finished, out, published, completely unclassified by the summer. In fact, I’m actually hoping to have it done earlier than that.
But I assembled over the last six months, I think one of the best teams of both civilians and uniformed military personnel to help conduct this investigation. I’ve got elite representatives from every service— so Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and these are people that have skin in the game, that fought the fight, that not only understand the battlefield in Afghanistan but understand how this building works, which 30,000 people in this building every day is the largest bureaucracy in the world. You’ve got to know how the building works, and my team does. And I just, I’m really optimistic and happy with the progress.
And I think, you know, again, as I mentioned, the ultimate goal is to declassify everything for the American people. I mean, this is something that happened back in 2021 so there’s really no reason for it to have the classification level that it does. I mean, obviously, we want to make sure that we protect, you know, clandestine assets that are still on the field, right? But for the most part, there’s no reason for it to be classified. It’s of paramount importance for the American people to learn what happened. And so, I’m really happy with the progress thus far. And I think the American people, and especially the families of the fallen who lost loved ones in Afghanistan, are going to be happy with it as well.
Conradson: I’m looking forward to I know our readers at The Gateway Pundit are. You know, this was one of the biggest stains on the Biden administration’s record, and there’s so many of them. 13 service members killed. I think it was $80 billion worth of equipment given up to the Taliban that reminds me of the planes of cash in the middle of the night that Obama sent.
Parnell: You touched on something that is so important: You talk about the stain on this country. I remember in college, prior to joining the military, studying the fall of Saigon and thinking to myself, There’s no way we can ever allow something like that to happen again in this country. It affected an entire generation of Vietnam veterans who fought, bled and died in that war— not just that, their families who were also involved, right? It made them question what the point was, if we were just going to give it all away in the fashion that we did at the very end. And as the fall of Afghanistan was happening— and I led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan, took an 85% casualty rate when I was there, some of my men were in it twice, some three times. This is the height of the hunt for bin Laden. So, obviously, this is very personal to me, you know?
I just remember thinking during the surrender, like, oh my god, this is going to be a Saigon moment for this country, not just the country, but the men and women who served in Afghanistan. And you’re going to have an entire generation of Afghan war vets wondering what it was for. And it’s just, and I think, you know, there are multiple like, obviously, it’s very personal to veterans who fought there, but even from a national security and foreign policy standpoint, you think about how our enemies perceived that, both our commitment to wars that we get involved in— they might think that we don’t have the wherewithal to see things through— or how our enemies perceived the lack of deterrence, right? I think a direct reason for Russia invading Ukraine was the way that we left Afghanistan because they didn’t fear American presence and power in the world.
So, you see that there are second and third order effects. These things sometimes have a domino effect. The Afghan surrender absolutely did. And as evidenced by this review that I’m doing, this is still a part of the American conscience, right? Things that we think about all the time, and that’s part of the reason why the investigation and the review is so important.
Conradson: Now, what we know about what happened in Afghanistan, there’s reports it wasn’t just incompetence, it might have been malfeasance, possibly. There’s reports that Mark Milley and the previous Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, they actually knew about the plan to bomb Kabul airport. They knew that these 13 service members were at the greatest risk, yet they still let it happen. Are we going to see accountability for them, possible charges, or are they immune?
Parnell: Well, nobody’s immune, right? And we’re taking an all the above approach. And of course, accountability is a core tenet of this mission, but for me, we’ve got to get it all right first. And I think when the review is done, you’re going to see a whole hell of a lot more information come out about the scenario that you just outlined, about what we knew about the attack, the attacker, and how it unfolded, and how decisions were made. The American people are going to get a front row seat to all of that. And you know, for me, it’s also important to protecting the integrity of the investigation, not let my personal feelings get out in front of the facts, right? So, we’re going to let the facts tell the story, but when we release it, the American people, again, along with the families who lost loved ones, they are going to learn a hell of a lot about what happened.
Conradson: I’m sure you’ve seen him running around here, in terms of accountability, Stu Sheller works at the Department of Defense now. He’s the only person that was held accountable during the Afghan withdrawal, the only one! There’s not a single person that was actually leading the fight, flag officer, general officer, or otherwise, that was actually held accountable. Stu sheller was the only one, and I think that’s wrong.
There’s a lot of pressure now, especially with this Mark Kelly thing. We have a lot of readers, a lot of Trump supporters, people who love the work that you guys are doing, but they’re so disillusioned, and they don’t believe anything is going to happen with Afghanistan. They also don’t believe anything is going to happen to Mark Kelly–
Parnell: Can you blame them? Can you blame them? I mean, I’ll tell you, the Trump administration and President Trump is different. But all my life, regardless of who is in power, elites in this country, most of the time, aren’t held accountable. And I think President Trump is different, and I think he, you know, just by virtue of the things that happened to him when he was running for President, by the way— I’ve never seen any presidential candidate handle the things that he handled in terms of lawfare, trying to throw him and his family in jail, trying to destroy his business, I mean, all that stuff. So, I can’t blame many members of the Republican Party, thinking, “Oh, the best we can hope for is a sternly worded letter or something.” I mean, you know, but this administration is different.
Accountability is important. I mean, you’ve seen Secretary Hegseth, President Trump already hold some people accountable, like President Trump, I believe, revoked Jake Sullivan’s security clearance. So, accountability is important. I mean, a private loses their night vision goggles on the battlefield, they’re held accountable and have their wages garnished for the rest of their whole damn career if they stay in, but senior leaders are not. But we’re committed to accountability because it’s important. It’s important that people are held accountable because the American people know, need to know that their government officials are held to the same standard as them.
Conradson: I want to ask one more question about Mark Kelly. If he’s recalled into active duty and court-martialed. First of all, what do those proceedings look like and also, he recently said, President Trump is trying to “kill me.” What’s your response to that?
Parnell: That’s ridiculous, but not unsurprising rhetoric from Democrats who have been, I mean, they’ve been increasingly— violence has been an increasingly disturbing part of their rhetoric, you know? And it’s, it’s actually tragic given what President Trump, almost assassinated on July 13, Charlie Kirk gunned down, assassinated. I personally believe that’s a direct result of the irresponsible, violent rhetoric from the Democrats. And this is no different from Senator Mark Kelly.
In terms of what the proceedings will look like, that’s difficult to know just because, I mean, the Secretary of the Navy is looking into this right now and is going to outline a very specific plan of how that will go down. And I think the deadline he was given by the Secretary was December 10. But again, we’re taking it seriously, because accountability is important.
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