Republican senator blocks promotion of general who oversaw Afghanistan withdrawal
CNN
A Republican senator has blocked the promotion of a general who oversaw the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a source familiar with the matter, as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to go after the officials involved in the withdrawal.
A Republican senator has blocked the promotion of a general who oversaw the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a source familiar with the matter, as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to go after the officials involved in the withdrawal. Sen. Markwayne Mullin blocked the promotion of Lt. Gen. Chris Donahue to 4-star general as the commander of US Army Europe-Africa. Donahue was the last US soldier on the ground in Afghanistan at the end of the withdrawal, according to the Pentagon. The night vision picture of Donahue boarding a cargo flight out of Hamid Karzai International Airport become a symbolic image of the end of the end of a 20-year war and a chaotic withdrawal that saw the death of 13 US troops in a suicide bombing. Trump said he will demand the resignation of “every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity.” Vice President-elect J.D. Vance also promised to go after those involved in the withdrawal, saying, “the people who screwed this up are going to suffer some consequences.” Donahue currently serves as the commander of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. At the time of the Afghanistan withdrawal, he was a Maj. Gen. commanding the 82nd Airborne Division. “We are aware that there is a hold on Lt. Gen. Donahue,” said deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh at a press briefing Monday. Singh said she is not aware of any other holds on promotions. On November 19, the Senate Armed Services Committee announced the advancement of 984 military promotions, including nominations from each of the branches of the military. But Donahue was not on the list of nominees advanced. The Pentagon announced four days earlier that he had been nominated for promotion to General.
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