Samuel Case, FISM News
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Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, top defense officials revealed that President Joe Biden was advised against a full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Officials had considered it best to keep a minimum of 2,500 support troops in the region. Those testifying included Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, and head of U.S. Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie.
The revelation that Biden was advised against a rapid pull out contradicts statements the president made in an August interview. During an exchange with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Biden was asked if military advisors had told him to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. “No. No one said that to me that I can recall.” Biden even told Stephanopoulos it “wasn’t true” that the military warned against the withdrawal.
General McKenzie, in an exchange with Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), told the committee, “I recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.” McKenzie said he had also “recommended earlier in the fall of 2020, that we maintain 4,500 at that time,” because he believed “the withdrawal of those forces would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces and eventually the Afghan government.”
Top generals told lawmakers under oath that they advised President Joe Biden early this year to keep several thousand troops in Afghanistan — directly contradicting the president’s comments in August that no one warned him not to withdraw troops from the country. pic.twitter.com/cqGmpcJkJI
— POLITICO (@politico) September 28, 2021
General Milley agreed with McKenzie’s assessment. He noted that since late 2020 the military warned that a rapid pullout could result in the collapse of the Afghan military and government. “That was a year ago. My assessment remained consistent throughout,” Milley said. The general said that military commanders are required to give their best advice, but that doesn’t mean the “decision-makers” will follow said advice.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that Milley and McKenzie’s advice “was received by the president and considered by the president.” However Austin added that he could not go into the details of what was “recommended in confidence.”
Following the hearing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on conflicting accounts of the President and the military officials. “So who, in his military advisors told him it’d be fine to pull everybody out?” a reporter asked.
Psaki replied, “There were recommendations made by a range of his advisors, something [the president] welcomed, something he asked them to come to him clear eyed about, to give him candid advice.” She added, “Ultimately, it’s up to the commander in chief to make a decision. He made a decision it was time to end a 20 year war.”