Promotion of a three-star general that was part of 2021 America's withdrawal from Afghanistan Republican Senator Markway Mullin of Oklahoma has blocked it, three sources familiar with the move confirmed to CBS News on Saturday.
Lieutenant General Christopher Donahue was to be promoted to four-star rank and take command of American forces in Europe. However, he was not included in the batch of about 1,000 promotions that passed through the Senate Armed Services Committee this week despite receiving the Pentagon's recommendation.
Mullin has put a hold on promotion. Two sources familiar with the situation told CBS News the intention is to allow the new Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Donald Trump to include him in a promotion given Donahue's involvement in the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Sources said that behind the scenes, there is an effort by the Army and other allies to convince the Congress to step forward and lift the hold, which appears to be politically motivated.
Alison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images
during CampaignTrump repeatedly noted his surprise that no officials were removed by President Biden for the chaotic withdrawal.
Military officers implement American policy, but do not make it. It was the Trump administration that in February 2020 brokered the deal With Taliban to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, but it was Mr Biden who decided Carrying out that withdrawal despite the Taliban breaking the terms of that US agreement.
Donahue was the last US soldier to exit Afghanistan in 2021. The US evacuated approximately 125,000 people, including 6,000 Americans, during its withdrawal, during which dozens of Afghans and 13 US service members were killed. in a suicide bombing Outside Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul.
The US underestimated the speed with which the Taliban would capture Kabul and well-documented US logistics and planning failures have been the focus of multiple internal investigations at the Pentagon, State Department and Congress.
A detailed report from the State Department was released last year Found that “inadequate” planning, communications failures and an inability to understand “the scale and scope of the operation” contributed to the chaotic operation.
CBS News contacted Mullin's office but did not receive a response. It is not clear whether Trump is aware of this ban or not.
Contributed to this report.
