Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue – seen in a viral, night vision photo showing the last American soldier leaving Kabul, Afghanistan – was quietly confirmed by the Senate on Monday to lead US troops in Europe and Africa.
Donahue, who led the 82nd Airborne Division during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, was approached by President Biden for promotion to four-star general, but the confirmation was left out of a series of 100 other military promotions greenlit by the Senate. before Thanksgiving break. The delay was caused by another senator holding Donahue’s confirmation, according to Politico.
Many outlets reported that Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., was responsible for the holdup process.
MAJ. GEN. CHRIS DONAHUE: WHO WAS THE LAST US SOLDIER TO LEAVE AFGHANISTAN?
U.S. Army Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, boards a C-17 transport plane as the last member of the U.S. to depart Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan Aug. 30, 2021. (XVIII Airborne Corps/Handout via REUTERS)
Mullin has been critical of the Biden-Harris administration in the dramatic withdrawal caused by Mr. 13 US service members and about 170 Afghan civilians were killed when a bomb exploded at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport. Donahue was in charge of the 82nd Airborne as it was tasked with securing the airfield at Kabul Airport during the evacuation before the country fell to the Taliban.
The senator named Donahue, along with other officials, in a statement on August 24, 2024, on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing.
“Three years later, not a single person has been held accountable for this tragedy—not Gen. Milley, Gen. McKenzie, Gen. Donahue, US Ambassador to Tajikistan John Pommersheim, or anyone at the State Department,” Mullin said at the time. “To this day, no one has testified before Congress about who gave the order. No one has been held accountable for the 13 American soldiers who died at Abbey Gate, or the scores of Americans who lost their lives trying to escape to Kabul.”
President Trump’s former defense secretary responded to Trump critic Mark Esper, who had defended Donahue’s nomination, and last month called for it to be rescinded.
General Christopher Donahue, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, and Maj. Gen. Wojciech Marchwica of Poland speak to reporters after a US Air Force transport plane carrying military supplies and troops landed at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland, on -Feb. 2022. (JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
“Responsibility for a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 rests squarely on the shoulders of the White House, not the Department of Defense, and certainly not on the leaders in uniform who faithfully executed Pres Biden’s misguided decisions,” Esper wrote in X.
ARMY DEPUTY POSTED PHOTO OF LAST US SOLDIER LEAVING AFGHANISTAN
Trump had promised during the campaign to fire senior officials involved in the withdrawal, though not Donahue.
One US official told NBC News last month that Trump’s transition team was putting together a list of current and former US military commanders who could face legal action over the withdrawal.
A sign displaying the photos and names of 13 service members killed in a terrorist attack at the Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport is seen during a news conference at the US Capitol on September 9, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The Senate finally confirmed Donahue’s promotion to the position of commander of the US Army Europe-Africa by unanimous consent on Monday, as it was withdrawn. Mullin has not commented publicly on the arrest.
Donahue has led the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, since 2022.
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He was also the leader of the Special Operations Joint Task Force Afghanistan and served as the Deputy Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for special operations and counter-terrorism.
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