The House Foreign Affairs Committee convened a hearing on Tuesday afternoon to assess the Biden administration’s role in the contentious end to America’s longest war. The two senior military officers in charge of the United States’ exit from Afghanistan in 2021 provided the testimony.
Gen. Mark Milley was one of these critical figures; he stepped down as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last September.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley’s testimony is set for Tuesday. Since this is his first public appearance after retiring, he may be able to shed light on the American pullout from Afghanistan in a different light.
Milley will be joined by retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who oversaw USCENTCOM during the 2021 evacuation. Both individuals have testified before Congress about the operation’s flaws in the past. Republicans, however, contend that their past timidity was likely colored by their position as sitting members during President Biden’s administration.
In 2021, Milley and McKenzie both testified that they had emphasized to Biden the significance of maintaining a small U.S. military in Afghanistan rather than departing entirely. Milley has publicly recognized and expressed his profound remorse over the operation’s failure to proceed according to plan.
As chairman, Republican Michael McCaul of Texas has repeatedly asked the State Department to supply him with the paperwork related to the operation.
So far, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has refused to share interview notes regarding the after-action report on Afghanistan. The study blamed high-ranking authorities for not thinking through every possible consequence of the operation well enough.
At Tuesday’s session, several Gold Star families of American military men killed in that attack were there.
At the committee hearing, when asked about the chaos at the airport during the evacuation, Milley admitted that the decision to conduct a noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO) was taken too late.
Milley said that Afghans and Americans were still trapped in the clutches of the Taliban after all the American efforts.
A new book claims that Biden is unfazed by the fact that 13 American servicemen died in the operation and that tens of thousands of Afghan comrades are still trapped under the Taliban’s control. The tragic suicide bombing at the airport’s Abbey Gate on August 26th killed thirteen American servicemen and one hundred and seventy Afghans.