Multiple top military officials appeared Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a hearing on the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie both testified that they had previously recommended maintaining a presence of at least 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that their input on the issue was “received” by President Biden, but Biden claimed the opposite.
“I won’t share my personal recommendation to the president, but I will give you my honest opinion and my honest opinion and view shaped my recommendation”, said McKenzie. “And I recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan”, he added.
McKenzie claimed he made a similar recommendation last fall under Trump when that administration was planning to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Milley commented on the same matter, saying “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 has previously stated that no one ever advised him to leave a military presence that he could “recall”.
Austin was then asked if the president had received recommendations from the military advisers, to which he responded “Their input was received by the president and considered by the president for sure”.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted “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”.
Milley also testified on the issue surrounding his calls with Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army in China. He explained that “The specific purpose of the October and January calls was generated by concerning intelligence which caused us to believe the Chinese were worried about an attack by the U.S.”.
“Shortly after my call ended with Gen. Li, I informed both Secretary of State Pompeo and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about the call among other topics”, he added.
Milley has been called on to resign many times after the phone calls were revealed in “Peril”, a book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. During the hearing, he also said “My loyalty to this nation, its people, and the Constitution hasn’t changed and will never change as long as I have a breath to give”.
