WASHINGTON  — Active members and veterans witnessed firsthand the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan on Wednesday and described in heartbreaking detail the carnage and deaths they witnessed on the ground as they pleaded with Congress to help the allies left behind.

After two suicide bombers attacked crowds of Afghans, former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews testified before Congress about the smell of human flesh beneath a thick cloud of smoke as the screams of children, women, and adults filled the area around Kabul's airport.

"In my opinion, the withdrawal was a catastrophe." The bombing victim, Vargas-Andrews, who wore a prosthetic arm and had scars from his own grave wounds, added that there was an inexcusable lack of accountability.

"I see the faces of all of those we could not save, those we left behind," Aidan Gunderson, an Army medic who was stationed at Abbey Gate, testified. "I wonder if our Afghan allies ran away to safety or if the Taliban killed them."

With witnesses recalling how they saw mothers carrying dead babies and the Taliban shooting and brutally beating people, the opening hearing of a long-promised investigation by House Republicans revealed the open wounds from the end of America's longest war in August 2021.

The first of several hearings organized by Republicans to look into how the Biden administration handled the departure of American troops from Afghanistan was held.

The decision to withdraw and the frantic effort to save American citizens and Afghan allies with little assistance from the United States were the main topics of testimony. The majority of witnesses claimed that every presidential administration, from George W. Bush to Joe Biden, was to blame for the fall of Kabul and that it was an American failure.

Retired According to Lt. Col. Scott Mann's testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the suicide bombing in Afghanistan that left 170 Afghans and 13 American service members dead is proof that America is developing a reputation for systemic abandonment of its allies across multiple generations.

Before the attack, he and others helping with the evacuation operation were given descriptions of men thought to be planning an attack, but they never got a decision about whether to take action.

Vargas-Andrews sobbed as he described to lawmakers how he and others saw two men who fit the descriptions and were acting suspiciously but were unable to stop the evacuation's single deadliest moment.

In October 2021, U.S. Central Command came to the conclusion that the suicide attack at Abbey Gate could not have been stopped tactically without compromising the mission.

The investigation did not, however, examine whether the bomber might have been stopped or whether Marines on the ground had the right to intervene.

Neither a request for "an escalation to existing rules of engagement" governing the use of force by American troops nor any advance identification of a potential attacker had been found during the Pentagon's earlier investigation of the suicide attack.

McCaul has criticized the way the Biden administration has handled the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, pointing to President Trump's unilateral agreement with the Taliban and Biden's abrupt withdrawal of contractors and troops, leaving an Afghan air force that previous administrations had failed to make self-supporting stranded. Sopko came to the conclusion that the abrupt demise of the Afghan government and military was largely due to decisions made by the Trump and Biden administrations.

The report criticized each U.S. administration since 2001 for adopting inconsistent, shifting policies that prioritized quick fixes and the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan over a sustained effort to develop a strong, long-lasting Afghan military. The witnesses who testified on Wednesday urged action to aid the thousands of Afghan allies who worked with American troops and are currently in limbo. A Marine veteran who now works for Team America Relief, Peter Lucier, said immediate action will save so many lives.

Creating a path to citizenship for the 76,000 Afghans who have collaborated with American soldiers since 2001 as translators, interpreters, and partners was the solution discussed on Wednesday. After the withdrawal, those individuals flew into the country on military aircraft and were granted temporary parole status as a result of Operation Allies Welcome, which provided them with a path to a life in the country in exchange for their service.

To prevent Afghans from being left without a legal residency status when their two years of humanitarian parole expire in August, Congress launched a bipartisan effort to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act. According to the proposal, Afghans who met the requirements could have applied for citizenship in the United States, just like it was previously possible for refugees. Republicans' opposition, though, caused the effort to stall in the Senate. The retired green beret Mann pleaded with legislators to seek accountability and lessons learned to address the moral injury caused to Afghan allies.