Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal excoriated the Biden Administration over their disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan after tense exchanges on Capitol Hill between the nation’s top generals and lawmakers; stating that “nobody is in charge.”
“Tell me if you left today with clarity?” asked MSNBC News.
“There really was no clarity. The Secretary of Defense provided no real responses to my questions. There are no responses. There’s nobody in charge. He knows there’s a moral imperative here. There are tens of thousands of Afghan allies who went into combat with our troops. Now they have targets on their backs,” said Blumenthal.
“My office turned into a mini-evacuation center,” he added. “Nobody is in charge. It’s a continuing challenge that we need to face because lives are at stake.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki faced a growing backlash Tuesday after the military’s top brass told Congress they recommended Joe Biden keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, blaming the entire situation on Donald Trump.
“As @POTUS told ABC, ending the war in Afghanistan was in our national interest. He said advice was split, but consensus of top military advisors was 2500 troops staying meant escalation due to deal by the previous admin. @SecDef, the Chairman, and GEN McKenzie all reiterated,” posted Psaki on Twitter following the testimony.
As @POTUS told ABC, ending the war in Afghanistan was in our national interest. He said advice was split, but consensus of top military advisors was 2500 troops staying meant escalation due to deal by the previous admin. @SecDef, the Chairman, and GEN McKenzie all reiterated.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) September 28, 2021
McKenzie and Milley both testified that they recommended maintaining a presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“I won’t share my personal recommendation to the president, but I will give you my personal assessment,” Milley testified. “My assessment was we should keep a steady state of 2500 troops.”
“I do share that assessment,” said General McKenzie.
“I also have a view that the withdrawal of those forces would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces and eventually the Afghan government,” McKenzie testified.
Watch Blumenthal’s comments above.
GENERAL MILLEY: ‘It is Obvious the War in Afghanistan Did Not End on the Terms We Wanted’
General Mark Milley -the nation’s top military officer- addressed Congress Tuesday where he was asked to comment on Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, telling lawmakers it is “obvious” the war did not end the way we wanted.
“It is clear. It is obvious. The war in Afghanistan did not end on the terms we wanted, with the Taliban now in power in Kabul,” Milley told legislators.
A new survey from Morning Consult spells more bad news for Joe Biden, with roughly 6 in 10 saying the country has “seriously gone off on the wrong track.”
“The study, conducted from Saturday to Monday, found that 61 percent of respondents believe the country is on the wrong track, compared to just 39 percent who say the country is ‘going in the right direction,’” reports The Hill.
“The survey also found a record-low overall approval rating for Biden at 47 percent, with 49 percent saying they disapproved of the president’s job performance overall,” adds the website.
Trump approval outpacing Biden's in new poll https://t.co/ojJS1kaVyM pic.twitter.com/bUoEJujoOw
— New York Post (@nypost) September 23, 2021
Biden approval sinks to 44 percent in new Pew poll https://t.co/t0HahYVO50 pic.twitter.com/hn9MSRCvqp
— The Hill (@thehill) September 23, 2021
Watch Milley’s remarks above.
GENERALS IGNORED? Milley, McKenzie Say They Recommended 2,500 Troops Stay in Afghanistan
From Fox News:
Top military officials on Tuesday testified that they assessed that the U.S. should maintain a presence of at least 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admitting that their input was “received” by President Biden, despite Biden’s claims to the contrary.
Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and head of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday for a public hearing on the Biden administration’s chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
McKenzie and Milley both testified that they recommended maintaining a presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“I won’t share my personal recommendation to the president, but I will give you my personal assessment,” Milley testified. “My assessment was we should keep a steady state of 2500 troops.”
“I do share that assessment,” said General McKenzie.
Last month, Joe Biden claimed that no military leader advised him to leave a small troop presence in Afghanistan.
Today, General Milley and General McKenzie both confirmed their recommendation that 2,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan.
Which is it? pic.twitter.com/3Tnw1a6V4q
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) September 28, 2021
McKenzie said he made a similar recommendation in the fall of 2020 under the Trump administration, which also had intentions to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, saying, at the time, he recommended the U.S. maintain at least 4,000 troops.
“I also have a view that the withdrawal of those forces would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces and eventually the Afghan government,” McKenzie testified.
Milley was also pressed on the matter, saying that while he would not share his “personal” recommendations made to the president, his assessment was, “back in the fall of 2020, and remained consistent throughout, that we should keep a steady state of 2,500 and it could bounce up to 3,500, maybe, something like that, in order to move toward a negotiated solution.”
Biden and White House officials have said repeatedly that no military leaders advised him to leave a small military presence behind, with the president, himself, telling ABC News in August that “no one” recommended a 2,500 troop presence that he could “recall.”
Austin was asked whether the president received the personal recommendations from his top military advisers like Milley and McKenzie.
Read the full report at Fox News.
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