Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and U.S. Central Command retired Gen. Frank McKenzie finally appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Testifying about the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the duo acknowledged their obvious role as overseeing the mission but openly pointed to President Biden as the root cause. In their eyes, there were two main flaws in the withdrawal. Biden’s refusal to leave 2,500 troops in the country to maintain stability and the lack of speed by the State Department to evacuate.
As Milley testified, “On 14 August the non-combatant evacuation operation decision was made by the Department of State and the U.S. military alerted, marshaled, mobilized, and rapidly deployed faster than any military in the world could ever do. The fundamental mistake, the fundamental flaw was the timing of the State Department. That was too slow and too late.”
In response to their testimony, the National Security Council tried to claim Biden was fulfilling a campaign promise to get the troops out of Afghanistan. Additionally, they claimed that the administration had proven that we don’t need US troops to be endangered to keep terrorist threats at bay.
This kind of response is a bald-faced lie. The administration never promised to get troops out of Afghanistan. Instead, they have spent the last three years trying to convince the American people that former President Trump had made the decision and was responsible for the failure. The truth of the matter is that Milley and McKenzie nailed it by blaming Biden.
The State Department knew when the deadline was; it certainly was no big secret, and they failed to get people out safely. Americans who were stuck in the Taliban-controlled vacuum left by this rapid withdrawal were largely unable to escape. Troops on the ground were put in extreme danger by Afghanis looking to escape and terrorists looking to get in their last licks.
In total, the whole situation was just another Biden debacle, and now, as we head toward the 2024 presidential election, it’s time the dementia-riddled President pays the price for turning the country into a meat grinder.
