uncmba
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An incredible leader who was the last American on the ground leaving Afghanistan is being punished:
A Republican senator from Oklahoma has frozen the promotion of a three-star general who led U.S. forces during the evacuation of Afghanistan, after months of Donald Trump’s pledges that as president he would fire any senior officer associated with the chaotic and traumatic mission.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin installed the hold against Lt. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue, according to a Senate official familiar with the matter and congressional correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post. The official, like some others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
President Joe Biden nominated Donahue, 55, this month for promotion to four-star general and to lead all U.S. Army forces in Europe. He has led troops in elite Special Operations units like the 75th Ranger Regiment and more recently commanded tens of thousands of conventional forces from a headquarters at Fort Liberty in North Carolina.
In a U.S. military investigation carried out in the aftermath of the evacuation, numerous senior officers voiced frustration with what they saw as insufficient planning for the possibility of a withdrawal. Senior White House and State Department officials failed to grasp the Taliban’s lightning advance across the Afghan countryside that summer and resisted efforts by military leaders to better prepare for an evacuation of embassy personnel and Afghan allies, placing U.S. troops in greater danger, the testimony said.
Donahue told investigators after the evacuation that he learned he was being sent to assist in the evacuation on Aug. 16, 2021, one day after the government in Kabul fell. He grew agitated as he made initial rounds of the airport and realized that Taliban fighters were still inside the facility.
“Later that night, around 0200, we met with the Taliban,” Donahue recalled, using military terminology to refer to 2 a.m. “We told them we would control the gates and they would push people out. We expressed that they will comply, because if they fight us, we will kill more of them than they could ever hope to kill of us. After that, their tone changed.”
read://https_www.washingtonpost.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational-security%2F2024%2F11%2F22%2Fsenator-freezes-promotion-general-who-led-afghanistan-evacuation%2F
Senator freezes promotion of general who led during Afghanistan evacuation
Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue has been nominated for promotion to four-star general and to lead U.S. Army Europe.A Republican senator from Oklahoma has frozen the promotion of a three-star general who led U.S. forces during the evacuation of Afghanistan, after months of Donald Trump’s pledges that as president he would fire any senior officer associated with the chaotic and traumatic mission.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin installed the hold against Lt. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue, according to a Senate official familiar with the matter and congressional correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post. The official, like some others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
President Joe Biden nominated Donahue, 55, this month for promotion to four-star general and to lead all U.S. Army forces in Europe. He has led troops in elite Special Operations units like the 75th Ranger Regiment and more recently commanded tens of thousands of conventional forces from a headquarters at Fort Liberty in North Carolina.
In a U.S. military investigation carried out in the aftermath of the evacuation, numerous senior officers voiced frustration with what they saw as insufficient planning for the possibility of a withdrawal. Senior White House and State Department officials failed to grasp the Taliban’s lightning advance across the Afghan countryside that summer and resisted efforts by military leaders to better prepare for an evacuation of embassy personnel and Afghan allies, placing U.S. troops in greater danger, the testimony said.
Donahue told investigators after the evacuation that he learned he was being sent to assist in the evacuation on Aug. 16, 2021, one day after the government in Kabul fell. He grew agitated as he made initial rounds of the airport and realized that Taliban fighters were still inside the facility.
“Later that night, around 0200, we met with the Taliban,” Donahue recalled, using military terminology to refer to 2 a.m. “We told them we would control the gates and they would push people out. We expressed that they will comply, because if they fight us, we will kill more of them than they could ever hope to kill of us. After that, their tone changed.”
read://https_www.washingtonpost.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnational-security%2F2024%2F11%2F22%2Fsenator-freezes-promotion-general-who-led-afghanistan-evacuation%2F
