Pentagon Officials to face Congress over Pullout Decision from Afghanistan

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Top Pentagon officials will face sharp questions in Congress about the chaotic pullout and the Taliban s rapid takeover of the country. It will mark their first public testimony since the US completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Republicans in particular have intensified their attacks on President Joe Biden’s decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan by Aug. 30. They said it left the US more vulnerable to terrorism. They also demanded more details on the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 American service members in the final days of the withdrawal. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are slated to testify on Tuesday in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee and then on Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee.

Gen. Frank McKenzie is the head of Central Command oversaw the withdrawal. The Senate committee’s ranking Republican, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, has peppered the Pentagon with a lengthy list of questions about multiple aspects of the withdrawal. It includes the suicide bombing on Aug. 26 at Kabul’s international airport that killed 169 Afghans in addition to the American service members. Inhofe also demanded information about decision-making over the summer as it became apparent that the Taliban were overwhelming US-backed Afghan forces. He said, “We need a full accounting of every factor and decision that led us to where we are today and a real plan for defending America moving forward”. The withdrawal ended the longest war in US history. The Biden administration and some Democrats in Congress have argued that former President Donald Trump bears some of the blame for the war ending in a Taliban victory.

They also have pointed to a years-long US failure to build an Afghan military that could stand up to the Taliban. Sen. Jack Reed said, “This is not a Democratic or a Republican problem. These failures have been manifesting over four presidential administrations of both political parties”. However, Tuesday’s hearing was scheduled to focus on Afghanistan. Other topics will likely come up, including Milley’s actions during the final months of Trump’s presidency. Some in Congress have alleged Milley of disloyalty for what the book “Peril”, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. Both Milley and Austin have defended the US military’s execution of an Afghanistan withdrawal that Biden ordered in April. The State Department initially said the diplomats would remain after the military withdrawal was completed by Aug. 31. The Pentagon has defended its execution of an airlift from Kabul airport that transported more than 120,000 people.