WASHINGTON - A commission created by Congress to conduct an independent review of the 20-year US war in Afghanistan held its first public hearing on Friday (July 19), pledging to be "unflinching" in examining how and why key decisions were made and who made them.

But, while accountability "is centrally important, our focus is less on assigning credit or blame ... than on extracting and applying its lessons" for future conflicts, said co-chair Colin Jackson.

The panel's first public hearing came just over a month before the third anniversary of the chaotic final US troop withdrawal that ended America's longest war as the Taliban seized Kabul.

Some 800,000 US servicemembers served in Afghanistan following the US-led invasion triggered by the Sept 11, 2001, attack on the United States by Afghanistan-based al Qaeda.

During the war, 2,238 US servicemembers died and nearly 21,000 were wounded. Independent estimates put the number of Afghan security forces and civilians killed at more than 100,000.

The 16-member commission, which was set up more than two years ago but began work less than a year ago, is to deliver its report by August 2026.

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