{"id":76193,"date":"2024-03-19T19:58:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T19:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/03\/19\/afghanistan-withdrawal-errors-came-despite-military-concerns\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:45:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:45:24","slug":"afghanistan-withdrawal-errors-came-despite-military-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2024\/03\/19\/afghanistan-withdrawal-errors-came-despite-military-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan withdrawal errors came despite military concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley<\/a> on Tuesday reiterated concerns that political decisions made outside the Defense Department led to the chaos and violence of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan<\/a> in August 2021, but also emphasized that no single mistake can be blamed for the failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe outcome in Afghanistan was the result of many decisions from many years of war,\u201d the retired Army general told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. \u201cLike any complex phenomena, there was no single causal factor that determined the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milley and former Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr.,<\/a> head of U.S. Central Command at the time of the withdrawal, appeared before the panel as part of ongoing congressional investigations <\/a>related to the final days of the withdrawal, which included the deaths of 13 U.S. service members<\/a> and hundreds of civilians after a suicide bombing at the Kabul International Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican leaders of the committee said the hearing was designed to provide still-unanswered questions from the families of those fallen troops \u2014 some of whom attended Tuesday\u2019s hearing \u2014 and to determine how mistakes were made.<\/p>\n\n\n\t