Gen. Christopher Donahue, the Army’s four-star commander of U.S. forces in Europe and Africa, will step down on July 2 at the request of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Army confirmed Tuesday. He is the latest in a line of nearly two dozen senior military leaders to retire early or be forced out under Hegseth, who has pursued an aggressive effort to reduce the general officer corps under the banner of “less generals, more GIs.”
His deputy, Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, will assume his duties on an interim basis after July 2.
“The Army thanks Gen. Donahue for his leadership of US Army Europe and Africa,” the Army said in a statement.
Donahue commands both U.S. Army Europe and Africa and NATO’s Allied Land Command, based in Izmir, Turkey. He had held the post for only about 18 months.
The removal comes as the Pentagon is reportedly weighing a significant restructuring of that command, including downgrading it from a four-star to a three-star billet, according to an Army official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The potential downgrade would align with Hegseth’s broader push to streamline the military’s top-heavy officer structure.
Last week, Hegseth told NATO allies he was launching a six-month review of American troop deployments in Europe. “This review is designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” Hegseth said.
Donahue is widely known as the last American soldier to step off Afghan soil. On Aug. 30, 2021, he boarded the final C-17 cargo plane out of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, ending nearly 20 years of U.S. military presence in the country. The moment was captured in a night-vision photograph that became one of the defining images of the U.S. withdrawal.
A West Point graduate and career special operations officer, Donahue commanded Delta Force units in Iraq and Afghanistan and led the 82nd Airborne Division from July 2020 to March 2022. He was brought in to restore order at Kabul’s airport during the chaotic final days of the U.S. evacuation, which airlifted roughly 124,000 Afghan civilians.
Hegseth and President Donald Trump have repeatedly attacked the Biden-era withdrawal as a strategic failure and a national embarrassment. The Pentagon recently launched a review of the entire withdrawal operation. Donahue’s leadership of the evacuation itself drew bipartisan praise at the time, though the broader exit strategy drew heavy criticism.
The latest departure brings to roughly two dozen the number of senior military officers who have left their posts early under Hegseth’s tenure as defense secretary.
