He said there were overflight arrangements over countries neighboring Afghanistan. On over-the-horizon intelligence-gathering, McKenzie said there was no agreement to base American unmanned aerial systems in nations that border Afghanistan. He extended that pledge to include Afghan Air Force officers and crews who flew their aircraft to neighboring countries as the Taliban took control of the country. Austin pledged several times to continue working with the State Department to help American citizens, green card holders and Afghans with special immigrant visas leave the country safely.
“There was no easy option here.”Īnswering questions about the evacuation of civilians, Austin said one reason the movement of American citizens and Afghans who worked with coalition forces did not begin earlier was a request by President Ashraf Ghani, who said such a change would cause his government to collapse. troops should have stayed in Afghanistan without recognizing there would be American casualties. He said he was frustrated with Republicans for arguing U.S. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the panel’s chairman. “To jump down the president’s throat because he actually had to make the decision in an impossible situation, I think does a grave disservice,” said Rep. 31 as evidence of an “unmitigated disaster.” Rogers cited the deaths of 13 service members killed in a suicide bombing attack at the airport’s Abbey Gate and the hundreds of Americans and Afghan allies who are still in the country after the evacuation formally ended Aug. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said, “I fear the president may be delusional” in deciding to pull all American forces from Afghanistan. In his opening statement, HASC ranking member Rep. Many of them use their five minutes for speeches, leaving no time for the witnesses to respond. Time and again during the unusually contentious hearing, Republican members accused Biden of lying about receiving advice from his senior military officers about forces remaining in Afghanistan. He added it was always the intention to evacuate the civilians through Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and not use Bagram.Īs he told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, Milley called the 20-year war in Afghanistan “a strategic failure.” The war “wasn’t lost in 20 days or 20 months.” Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To stay into September could have meant committing up to 25,000 more American service members to reopen bases and retake Kabul from the Taliban, said Army Gen. McKenzie said the concern over the collapse of the Afghan government was expressed to the president.ĭefense Secretary Lloyd Austin said remaining at Bagram “meant staying at war in Afghanistan.” He added, “there was no risk-free status quo option” of staying in the country after the announced withdrawal date. He said that among the command’s plans for withdrawal was the possibility of the collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces if no American and coalition forces and contractors were left behind. On no occasion were they caught unaware by our movements every base was handed off to Afghan forces according to a mutually understood plan.” Every departure of every element was carefully synchronized across the coalition and with our Afghan partners.
“We did this in close coordination with our allies and partners. “I did not see any tactical utility” to holding Bagram, he said before the House Armed Services Committee. Kenneth McKenzie said, “the Bagram option went away” without an order to send in up to 5,000 more American troops to back up the 650 left behind to defend the embassy in Kabul and retake the airbase. Central Command’s top officer told a House panel Wednesday. airbase at Bagram and its isolation from Kabul meant that keeping it under American control was “untenable under the situation” once President Joe Biden ordered all U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. Central Command, provides testimony at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on ending the U.S.
0 kommentar(er)
