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…Blinken was vacationing in the Hamptons just hours before the Taliban invaded
Letter to the editor Dear readers, Now that the presidential mussel has been removed from retired chair of the Joint Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley and General “Frank” McKenzie, retired 14th Commander of the US Central Command, they were in a very rare public testimony before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Four hours of the most infuriating, yet illuminating account of what happened that lead up to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
During fallout from the withdrawal, Biden made statements that contradict Milley’s recounting of events, according to BBC. Biden said generals never advised him to leave 2,500 troops at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. Milley said he advised Biden “to maintain a stay behind force.” McKenzie reaffirmed that he effectively relayed his advice to the president: “I participated in meetings at the very highest level where I expressed the opinion I just stated to you, and it was heard.” Biden went against Milley and McKenzie’s advice when he announced his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and to leave behind only 650 troops that allowed subsequent rapid take over by the Taliban.
“I believe that the events of mid and late August 2021 were the direct result of delaying the initiation of the NEO for several months,” McKenzie said. “In fact, until we were in extremists, and the Taliban had overrun the country -- as you are aware of, the decision to begin a NEO rests with the Department of State, not the Department of Defense. Despite this, we had begun positioning forces in the region as early as nine July, but we could do nothing.”
“After the decisions were made to keep a diplomatic presence there, as the situation deteriorated through the summer and the fall in the provincial capitals, etc., we were clearly pressing for early calls to execute a NEO,” said Milley. “The fundamental mistake, the fundamental flaw was the timing of the State Department,” Milley said. “That was too slow and too late.”
Milley said the consensus military recommendation to the Biden administration was to evacuate US Embassy personnel from Kabul at the same time as the military forces were withdrawing. “After the decisions were made to keep a diplomatic presence there, as the situation deteriorated through the summer and the fall in the provincial capitals, etc., we were clearly pressing for early calls to execute a NEO,” said Milley.
McKenzie also accused the US Embassy in Kabul of obstructing coordination on a possible evacuation plan with the military. “Embassy Kabul had a plan, had what we would call an F-77 list, which is the list of US citizens and their families that are in the country, and we struggled to gain access to that plan and work with them over the months of July until we finally got a decision to execute the NEO, which, as I’ve already mentioned, occurred on the 14th of August,” said McKenzie.
Despite warnings that Kabul was at risk of collapse, Blinken was vacationing in the Hamptons just hours before the Taliban invaded the Afghan capital and toppled the government and Biden was vacationing at Camp David.
Individual-1 Mike Banovetz Ely, MN
