During the hearing about the extraction from Afghanistan, one of the leading US General Mark Milley justified his behavior with full conviction about his time during the Trump government, and the telephonic discussion with his Chinese counterpart.
Milley further added during the hearing that various Trump officials were aware of the telephonic conversation with the Chinese as that call was appropriate.
He stated that I myself up-to-date both Mike Pompeo (Secretary of State) and Mark Meadows (White House Chief of Staff) about the conversation on call, along with many other important topics. Shortly after that, I joined a meeting with Chris Miller [an Acting Defense Secretary].
Since the full extraction of America’s troops from Afghanistan, this is the first time that Milley and Lloyd Austin (Secretary of Defense) are appearing publically in front of Senate lawmakers
Austin and Milley are united by the lead of Gen. Frank McKenzie (American Central Command), who frolicked a key part in smoothing the withdrawal from Kabul (Afghanistan). This is one of the efforts that has been the emphasis of massive bipartisan criticism since the last US military airplane left Afghanistan’s capital.
During the investigation, McKenzie said that he suggested America retain around 2,500 armed troops in Afghanistan, and Milley said he agreed with this recommendation. While the risk is this evidence seems to oppose Joe Biden’s claim he made last month during an interview.
In words of the McKenzie, according to my view that the evacuation of US troops would cause an inevitable collapse of the Afghan armed forces, and ultimately the Afghan government.
Biden, when questioned during an interview that if military officials sought him to keep around 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, denied it.
In his initial explanations, Milley explicitly spoke about new reporting in a book named “Peril”. This book was authored by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa (Washington Post reporters), it describes the details of the military leader’s telephonic talks to assure an anxious Chinese armed official and his struggles to bound previous President Donald Trump from possibly ordering a perilous military strike.
Milley’s actions produced high-pitched censure from Trump and his associates. Milley submitted two unclassified memos to the Senate Armed Services Committee, had a timeline of conversations between Trump Presidency Department of Defense Administrators and Chinese representatives.
The timeline displays Milley communicated with General Li Zuocheng (in December 2019 and April 2020 as well as October 2020 and January 2021).
The other memo presented to Congress delivers contextual evidence about Milley’s call with Nancy Pelosi (Hosue Speaker on January 8). The memo declares that Milley instantly informed Chris Miller (then-Acting Secretary of Defense) about the call with Pelosi and appears to have any disparaging remarks about the previous Chair during the discussion to the House Speaker.
Milley said in the memo that I wasn’t attempting to change the direction of the process, take authority, or insert myself into the string of command, but I shared my advice and ensured that the President is fully aware.
On the other hand, Austin fortified the military’s resolution to hand over Bagram Air Base to Afghanistan’s National Defense and Security Forces. This one of those moves which speedily saw the extensive base and hub of America’s operations collapse to the Taliban
Austin said that staying at Bagram, with the counter-terrorism purposes, meant staying at war in Afghanistan. This is something that Biden said that he would not agree with.
