The Recent Hearings Over the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan Are Important in Showing The Cost of the Incompetence of President Biden and his Administration
There has been a lot in the news recently. From new developments in the many sham cases against the former President, to recent events occurring in the conflicts within the Middle East, the national media has as usual been selective about what they cover and how they report these stories. One important story that has not gotten a lot of attention is the recent hearings on the completely incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan that were held by Republicans in the House just last week. Republican Representative Michael McCaul held these hearings, and both Generals Mark Milley and Kenneth Mckenzie testified at length before the House.
The recent testimony of these Generals was important for several reasons. First, when the Generals in charge of the military side of the evacuation and withdrawal testified before Congress previously in late 2021, the military leaders were still serving in the Biden administration. Both Generals are now retired, and the military leaders were clearly more willing to speak freely and openly about what happened in one of the saddest chapters of US foreign policy in our country’s history. The major revelations that were made by the Generals were that the military had recommended leaving 2,500 troops behind in any withdrawal scenario, the State Department did not withdraw civilian personnel in a timely fashion, and the diplomats in the Kabul Embassy actively obstructed the military’s efforts to withdraw US citizens in a timely and safe manner.
Obviously, it was not news that the State Department which is still run by the completely incompetent Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, did a bad job. The fact that the Embassy refused to turn over a list of citizens that would need to be evacuated from Afghanistan to the military was news though. The State Department not only botched the horrifically incompetent withdrawals, but US diplomats also prevented the Military from being able to do their job. The fact that the military had made forceful recommendations to leave 2,500 troops behind in order to ensure the peaceful transition of power was news as well.
This testimony comes on the back of multiple eyewitness accounts of how disorderly and incompetent the withdrawal at Kabul airport was when a terrorist attack at Abbey Gate led to the death of 12 U.S. Servicemen. Tyler Vargas Andrews, a sniper who was wounded in the terrorist attack, discussed in March of 2023 before the House that the withdrawal was a catastrophe, and that there was an inexcusable amount of negligence and a lack of accountability in how the process unfolded.
Milley and Mckenzie’s more candid recent testimony puts the recollections of veterans such as Andrews in a better context. The State Department wasn’t just incompetent, but Blinken and his officials also failed to communicate or coordinate properly with the military as well.
Joe Biden did not fire a single person after the completely incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Secretary of State Blinken remains in power, and there were not in firings of military leaders either. The corrupt and incompetent current President’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, a country where the US spent over 20 years and $2 trillion dollars, remains the most powerful example of how incompetent the current administration is. Republican leaders should not forget the shameful withdrawal by Biden as the upcoming elections approach.
