On April 13, 2023 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang gave a briefing to the press after the Second Informal Meeting on Afghanistan Between Foreign Ministers of  China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran.

When asked for comment on the White House report on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan which acknowledged that the withdrawal was "a huge intelligence failure" and blamed the former administration for the chaotic troop withdrawal, Qin Gang said that the U.S. failure in Afghanistan is multifold. First, it was a military failure. The military subjugation did not bring a moment of peace to Afghanistan, and the 20 years of occupation by the U.S. military had been 20 years of conflicts and turmoil in Afghanistan. Second, it was a political failure. The "democratic transformation" carried out by the U.S. and other Western countries in Afghanistan failed to fit into local conditions, and the issue of national reconciliation in Afghanistan has dragged on unresolved to today. Third, it was a counter-terrorism failure. With the U.S. interference, the terrorism issue has got from bad to worse in Afghanistan. The number of Afghan terrorist groups has increased from single digits 20 years ago to more than 20 today, leaving a huge "security black hole".

Qin Gang emphasized that the troop withdrawal by the U.S. does not mean that it could shirk off its responsibility, nor does the investigation report mean that the U.S. can draw a line under its shameful acts in Afghanistan. The U.S. should not sit back and ignore the current plight of the Afghan people, and the Afghan people's hard-earned money forcibly seized by the U.S. must be returned as soon as possible. Qin expressed the hope that the U.S. will truly draw a lesson from what happened in Afghanistan, and changed its wrong course at an early date. The U.S. should not judge or interfere in other countries' systems based on Western standards, nor should it attempt to reset military forces in Afghanistan and the region, still less supporting and employing terrorism.