Congress learned more last week about the decisions surrounding the Biden administration’s disgraceful withdrawal from Afghanistan. One fact that is becoming clear: The decision to abandon Bagram Air Field is directly connected to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members, one of whom, Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was my constituent.

President Biden ordered all U.S. troops to leave after 20 years in the country, forcing military commanders to abandon Bagram, which they did in July by shutting off the electricity and slipping...

A prison at Bagram Air Base in Parwan, Afghanistan, Sept. 23.

Photo: wana news agency/Reuters

Congress learned more last week about the decisions surrounding the Biden administration’s disgraceful withdrawal from Afghanistan. One fact that is becoming clear: The decision to abandon Bagram Air Field is directly connected to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members, one of whom, Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was my constituent.

President Biden ordered all U.S. troops to leave after 20 years in the country, forcing military commanders to abandon Bagram, which they did in July by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the middle of the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander. This cowardly act led to looting, and the Taliban seized Bagram a month later.

On Aug. 15, the Taliban reportedly released between 5,000 and 7,000 inmates from the Bagram prison. According to press reports, senior Indian intelligence sources think Abdul Rehman, a former prisoner, was the ISIS terrorist who carried out the attack at Kabul airport on Aug. 26. Only 10 days after his release, he appears to have killed 10 U.S. Marines, two Army soldiers and one Navy corpsman; wounded 20 U.S. service members; and killed more than 100 Afghan civilians. The timing and power of the explosives indicate that he did not act alone.

These press reports suggest that India’s foreign intelligence service handed Rehman over to the Central Intelligence Agency in 2017. Terrorists like Rehman posed an immediate threat to American security interests, and it is unthinkable that a sitting U.S. president would allow them to slip free. The Biden administration did nothing to ensure these terrorists were properly secured or transferred during the botched withdrawal.

The Biden administration has insisted the choice was binary: commit tens of thousands of troops for decades or leave in chaotic fashion. This choice is false. There were many options. Gen. Austin S. Miller, America’s longest-serving U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told senators that he warned against a total pullout. He said the rapid collapse of the Afghan government would be the most likely result. But this Afghanistan disaster was a political decision, and he was ignored.

The question is no longer whether the U.S. should stay in Afghanistan; that decision has been made and carried out. The focus now is to find out why the withdrawal was executed so poorly. There were many missteps and bad decisions: not coordinating with allies; not maintaining military presence until all Americans and allies were out; failing to vet those who were put on aircraft; not holding Bagram or securing thousands of terrorist prisoners; and ultimately not properly planning the evacuation that put service members at risk and took the lives of 13 brave Americans.

Senate testimony confirmed that Mr. Biden ignored military advice to keep a residual troop presence in Afghanistan—a fact the president denied in a television interview. What other advice has he ignored? Did anyone planning the withdrawal warn about the prisoners at Bagram? Is the administration currently hunting down those who helped Rehman kill American troops? Are we tracking the estimated 7,000 other hardened terrorists to ensure they don’t carry out more attacks on American interests around the world?

The president would like to stop talking about Afghanistan or boast about the “logistical success” of an evacuation that was necessary only because of the crisis he created. For the families of the 13 fallen heroes, there is no moving on. We owe it to them to understand why a dangerous terrorist was allowed to run free to commit this attack and what other threats exist. Afghanistan won’t be a memory washed away, and Congress has a duty to hold President Biden accountable for the irreversible damage he has done.

Mr. Calvert, a Republican, represents California’s 42nd congressional district.

The decision alters the President's standing abroad and at home. Photo: Bloomberg The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition