Milley Blamed State Department for Hampering Afghanistan Evacuation – Reports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – During a closed congressional hearing on Tuesday, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley blamed the Department of State for a chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan, saying officials “waited too long” to order civilian evacuations out of the Kabul airport, Axios reported on Wednesday citing two sources.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Milley, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and the Central Command Chief Gen. Frank McKenzie delivered testimonies to the House and Senate committees on the conclusion of the war in Afghanistan.

During the public part of the hearing, Milley acknowledged that the Pentagon and the State Department disagree on many occasions and it was particularly pronounced during the evacuation operation from Afghanistan, according to the report.

The general, however, pointed out that he "wasn't blaming anybody per se, but was speaking from a purely military perspective. The quicker we moved out non-combatants, the safer they would be."

The botched evacuation from Afghanistan has been a subject of harsh criticism on behalf of the US lawmakers from both party camps. Congressmen demand from the Biden administration to provide answers to why the withdrawal of troops and evacuation from Afghanistan was so problematic and chaotic, leaving thousands of loyal Afghans and hundreds of Americans behind.

Some congressmen even demanded Milley and Austin to resign over the consequences of the evacuation and withdrawal operations in Afghanistan.

Joe Biden’s Afghanistan evacuation was a catastrophe and the men who planned it - Gen Milley and Secretary Austin - should resign pic.twitter.com/NVc9yFjUvI

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 28, 2021

.@SenTomCotton: "Why haven't you resigned?"

Gen. Milley: "It would be an incredible act of political defiance for a commissioned officer to just resign because my advice is not taken." He also says, "My dad didn't get a choice to resign at Iwo Jima." pic.twitter.com/7D4w3KUR03

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 28, 2021

During the congressional testimony on Tuesday, Milley insisted that the United States would have once again gone to war with the Taliban* had US forces stayed in Afghanistan past September 1. Although it would have been militarily feasible to stay, it would have required an additional and significant commitment of forces to Afghanistan in order to clear Kabul of Taliban fighters, likely resulting in significant US casualties, he added.

Former US President Donald Trump had earlier suggested that it was more logical to pull out Americans and US weapons first, and then only to withdraw troops, adding that it was the Biden administration's fault that 13 US servicemen were killed in the August 26 terrorist attack at Kabul airport.

More than 160 Afghans also died in the attack, though media reports claim that US troops shot Afghan civilians in the chaotic aftermath of the suicide bombings.

*A terrorist organization banned in Russia