the catastrophic events of July and August 2021, which initially resulted in as many as 9,000 American citizens being abandoned in Afghanistan. These actions recklessly abandoned the interests, security, and values of the United States of America, and contributed to the unnecessary deaths of 13 United States servicemembers, as well as uncounted American civilians who were targeted and murdered by the Taliban. During the night of July 1, 2021, Bagram Air Base was secretly evacuated, which was subsequently de facto turned over to Afghan Government control without notice to them. Because the United States Armed Forces, which were under the direction of Secretary Austin and President Biden, as Commander in Chief, abandoned Bagram Air Base and the prison facilities associated with it without ensuring its persisting security throughout the remaining duration of the United States presence in the country, thousands of Taliban prisoners were freed. One of these prisoners, Abdul Rehman Al-Loghri, was an ISIS–K terrorist who detonated a bomb outside Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), killing 13 United States servicemembers and at least 170 Afghans. The strategic disadvantages of HKIA as a headquarters for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, as compared to Bagram Air Base, were blatantly apparent, and Secretary Austin’s decision to evacuate the base in preference for HKIA caused cascading failures in the withdrawal that represent a gross neglect for his constitutional duties to the national security of the United States and provide for the reasonable safety of the servicemembers entrusted to his leadership. Further, though the Taliban failed to uphold the negotiated agreement providing the foundation for the drawdown of United States military forces from Afghanistan, Secretary Austin failed in his responsibility to modify the strategy or logistics related to the removal of United States military personnel from Afghanistan, including to delay the United States drawdown or otherwise mitigate persisting threats