Years after the hasty Biden administration action
Lawmakers from both parties ok aslym for more of the Afghans that put their lives on the line to help Americans….
The action WAS ill timed, planned and carried out….
“The White House and congressional leaders have agreed to grant 12,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Afghan nationals who assisted the United States,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The provision is tucked into the State Department and Foreign Operations funding bill, one of the six bills to be voted on this week by Congress as part of the FY2024 minibus
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Retired generals Milley, McKenzie detail regrets about Afghanistan withdrawal
Two of America’s highest-ranking retired generals testified on Tuesday that a series of errors during 20 years of war led to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, but they also conceded that multiple mistakes were made by the Biden administration.
Gen. Mark Milley, a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, former head of U.S. Central Command, appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Seated behind them were Gold Star families, or relatives of the 13 American service members who died during the withdrawal.
Committee Republicans slammed the Biden administration for a disastrous withdrawal, while Democratic lawmakers stressed the Afghanistan retreat can only be viewed in the lens of 20 years of decisions made across various administrations.
Milley, appearing before Congress for the first time since he stepped down from his role as the nation’s highest-ranking military official last fall, said decisions made during years of war led to the 2021 collapse of the Afghan government as the Taliban swept to power following the American retreat.
“I think the whole thing was a strategic failure,” Milley said, though he praised the U.S. military for carrying out its duty.
Milley faulted the Biden administration for what he said was a poorly timed Noncombatant Evacuation Operations (NEO), or the withdrawal of nonessential civilian and military personnel, which did not come until mid-August, a little more than two weeks before the deadline to leave.
“The fundamental mistake, fundamental flaw was the timing,” Milley said. “I think that was too slow and too late. And that then caused a series of events that resulted in the very last couple of days. There’s a lot of other mistakes that [were] made along the way … [but] I think that was the key.” ……