Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander, U.S. Central Command, provide testimony at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on ending the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., Sept. 29, 2021. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

WASHINGTON  DC  –  PENTAGON –  Republican lawmakers with political agenda repeatedly attacked the Pentagon’s top military officials this week during congressional hearings over the Biden administration’s pullout of American troops from Afghanistan.   U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander, U.S. Central Command,  were grilled by Republicans during testimony at a House and Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on ending the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan.  GOP House members went as far as calling for the resignation of Army Gen. Milley during the hearings. While the military leaders acknowledged that the Afghan pullout was a “strategic failure”,   the defended the honor and courage of American who risked their lives there.  They also defended President Biden for withdrawing troops. How the Afghanistan conflict ended  should not obscure the pride Americans should have for the men and women who fought there, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. 

“As a veteran of the war, I am personally reckoning with all of that,” the secretary said during testimony about the war’s last days and the evacuation of 124,000 people from Kabul. “But I hope … that we do not allow a debate about how this war ended to cloud our pride in the way that our people fought it.”

-Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III provides testimony at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on ending the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., Sept. 29, 2021. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

Defense Secretary Austin made note of the fact that more than 800,000 service members deployed to Afghanistan over the course of the 20 year war, and helped keep American safe from another terror attack.

“They prevented another 9/11, they showed extraordinary courage and compassion in the war’s last days, and they made lasting progress in Afghanistan that the Taliban will find difficult to reverse and that the international community should work hard to preserve,”  Austin said. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, Calls on the Pentagon’s Top Brass To Resign

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the Pentagon’s top brass, urging them to  resign.   Austin, Milley, and McKenzie stated that  the have no intention to resign.

“I believe that you guys probably won’t resign. You seem to be very happy failing up over there. But if we didn’t have a president that was so addled, you all would be fired, because that is what you deserve.”

-Rep. Gaetz (R-FL) 

Pentagon Military Leaders Criticize Trump’s Exit Deal With The Taliban

U.S. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff  gives testimony at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on ending the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., Sept. 29, 2021. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

The military leaders were critical of former President Trump’s exit deal with the Taliban, and concluded that the courage and honor of American soldiers is important.   The top military officials linked the collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces in August to former President Trump’s deal with the Taliban in 2020 promising a complete withdrawal of US troops.   

Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F.  McKenzie, the head of Central Command appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations Sept. 28, 2021.  (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

In the view of Gen.  McKenzie, the head of Central Command, once the US troop presence was pushed below 2,500 as part of Washington’s plan to complete a total withdrawal by the end of August, the demise of the US-backed Afghan government accelerated.

“We can debate the decisions over 20 years that led us to this point,” he said. “But one thing not open to debate is the courage and compassion of our service members, who — along with their families — served and sacrificed to ensure that our homeland would never again be attacked the way it was on September 11, 2001.”    – Defense Secretary Austin