Retired Gen. Mark Milley and retired Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, the two senior generals overseeing the U.S. military during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, pointed fingers at the State Department for the delayed initiation of a “noncombatant evacuation operation” (NEO) during a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
Milley, former Joint Chiefs chairman, expressed his belief that the decision to initiate the NEO came too late. Meanwhile, McKenzie, former commander of US Central Command, attributed the events of August 2021 to the State Department’s delay in ordering the evacuation, emphasizing that the delay occurred until the situation became dire.
Their remarks, made during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, shed light on the tension between the Defense Department and the State Department. Milley stated that the military’s consensus recommendation to the Biden administration was to evacuate US Embassy personnel from Kabul concurrently with the military forces withdrawing.
McKenzie also criticized the US Embassy in Kabul for hindering coordination on a potential evacuation plan with the military, noting difficulties in accessing the embassy’s evacuation list.
The hearing, led by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, aimed to hold the Biden administration accountable for the Afghanistan withdrawal. McCaul condemned the administration for the Abbey Gate bombing, which claimed the lives of 13 US service members in the chaotic final days of the withdrawal.
Democrats criticized the hearing as a political maneuver to attack the Biden administration. Rep. Brad Sherman described it as politicized.
The hearing coincided with the completion of an additional review of the Abbey Gate bombing by US Central Command, which aimed to gather new information surrounding the attack.
Milley and McKenzie previously testified together about the withdrawal on September 28, 2021, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. They recommended maintaining a small US military presence in Afghanistan to prevent a collapse of the Afghan government and military.
