National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reportedly offered to step down from President Biden’s administration after the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to The Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.

Ignatius, who interviewed Sullivan and his colleagues as Biden’s presidency approaches its conclusion, revealed that several sources within the administration confirmed Sullivan’s offer to resign. However, President Biden rejected the suggestion and insisted Sullivan remain in his role.

The Afghanistan withdrawal, which resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen American service members and the Taliban regaining control of the country, reportedly fractured the camaraderie within Biden’s national security team. According to Ignatius, the event caused tension between Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Reflecting on the withdrawal, Sullivan told Ignatius, “You cannot end a war like Afghanistan, where you’ve built up dependencies and pathologies, without the end being complex and challenging. The choice was: Leave, and it would not be easy, or stay forever.”

Sullivan argued that the decision to exit Afghanistan enabled the United States to focus on other critical global challenges, particularly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Leaving Kabul freed the [United States] to deal with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in ways that might have been impossible if we had stayed,” he added.

The Pentagon had reportedly pushed back against Biden’s plan to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, advocating for a residual force of 2,500 troops in Kabul. Initially, Sullivan shared some of these concerns, Ignatius wrote, citing close advisers. However, he ultimately worked to support Biden’s decision to fully withdraw.

Contrary to Ignatius’s report, Alex Ward, a national security reporter for The Wall Street Journal and author of The Internationalists, stated that advisers he interviewed claimed no one had offered to resign over the Afghanistan withdrawal.

When evaluating his performance during his tenure, Sullivan expressed optimism about his impact:
“Are our alliances stronger? Yes. Are our enemies weaker? Yes. Did we keep America out of war? Yes. Did we improve our strategic position in the competition with China while stabilizing the relationship? Yes. Did we strengthen the engines of American economic and technological power? Yes,” he told Ignatius.

The White House and the National Security Council have not yet commented on the matter.