‘STATE DEPARTMENT AND WHITE HOUSE CAUSED THIS CATASTROPHE’: When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his generals went before Congress this week, they didn’t have a specific plan to blame the State Department for the fall of the Afghan government and the chaotic evacuation of American citizens and Afghan allies from Kabul. But they didn’t have to. They had a staunch defender in the form of ranking Republican Rep. Mike Rogers.
“The collapse of the government and the collapse of the military was solely the responsibility of this administration,” Rogers said at Wednesday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing. “It was the speed with which they done it … that’s what caused the chaos that we had.”
“If they had allowed the DOD to be in a command situation, we wouldn’t have had this problem,” Rogers said. “We just have to admit this was the State Department and the White House that caused this catastrophe, not the Defense Department.”
THE SINGLE FLAWED ASSUMPTION THAT SUNK BIDEN’S AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL PLAN
‘WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEEN IT GO FASTER, SOONER’: Over two days of questioning, Austin and his combatant commander Gen. Frank McKenzie admitted they were frustrated that the State Department waited until Aug. 14, the day before Kabul fell, to order the noncombatant evacuation operation, or “NEO,” the Pentagon had been planning for weeks.
“They were being cautioned by the Ghani administration that if they withdrew American citizens and SIV applicants at a pace that was too fast, it would cause a collapse of the government that we were trying to prevent,” Austin testified. “Add into the calculus that the SIV [special immigrant visa] process was very, at that point, very slow, deliberate, and not very responsive.”
“We provided our input, and we certainly would have liked to seen it go faster, or sooner,” Austin said. “We had the elements to begin to operate a bit sooner. But that’s State Department’s call.”
“I go back to could have gotten more people out earlier in the process. By that, I mean US citizens, and I know the embassy put out at least a dozen notices to US citizens to leave,” McKenzie testified. “I would have liked to maybe have seen … more done in that regard.”
“By nature, the Department of Defense can move very fast on issues like this. I felt that we were not completely aligned with State on that,” said Mckenzie, referring to the slow vetting process for SIV applicants. “There were still some things they could do faster.”
AUSTIN SAYS IT WAS STATE DEPARTMENT’S ‘CALL’ NOT TO EVACUATE US CITIZENS FROM AFGHANISTAN SOONER
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: During the classified closed portion of Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services hearing, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley reportedly was more direct in blaming the State Department for “waiting too long” to order the NEO, according to Axios, which cited two sources with direct knowledge of the briefing.
During the public portion of the hearing, Milley said, “Should that have been called earlier? I think that’s an open question that needs further exploration based on a series of meetings.”
But Axios reports Milley was “more blunt” in response to a question from Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth about lessons learned. “Milley jumped in to say that the evacuation of civilians, which Duckworth had not specifically asked about, needed to happen earlier,” the report says.
In response to the report, a senior administration official told Axios: “Senior leaders from the National Security Council, State, DoD, CENTCOM and the intelligence community discussed the planning during a table-top exercise on August 6. During that exercise, no DOD official, civilian or military, argued for triggering a NEO. If DOD had been pushing for an earlier NEO, we would have expected to have heard those calls during the discussion.”
‘WE DID IT TOGETHER’: BLINKEN REJECTS PENTAGON BLAME FOR AFGHANISTAN CHAOS
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ANOTHER CR FOR DOD: President Joe Biden has signed a continuing resolution to keep the Pentagon and the rest of the government funded through Dec. 3, staving off a shutdown that would have happened at midnight.
The bill basically freezes spending at this year’s levels but does include additional funding for resettled, newly arrived Afghan refugees and hurricane relief. The stopgap bill gives Congress two months to pass a dozen appropriations bills or face the prospect of another continuing resolution.
The vote was 65-35 in the Senate and 254-175 in the House.
COTTON AMENDMENT FAILS: A Republican amendment to the Senate version of the CR that would have limited assistance to Afghans admitted to the U.S. failed by a single vote, with no Democrats voting in favor.
The amendment, introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, would have cut off housing, food, and medical assistance after March of 2023 and would have removed a provision that allows Afghans to get driver’s license without the usual documentation.
The amendment was prompted by concerns that Afghans evacuated to the U.S., in some cases, haven’t been adequately vetted.
AFGHAN ‘GUESTS’ GRATEFUL: At a Pentagon briefing yesterday, the general in charge of the housing for some 53,000 Afghan civilians at eight U.S. military installations insisted the problems have been minimal and that for the most part, the “Afghan guests” are “grateful for the accommodations.”
U.S. Northern Commander Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck downplayed reports of assaults and other crimes committed by the new arrivals.
“What we’re seeing is law enforcement violations that are on par, and in most cases, significantly lower than the rates that we’re seeing in similar-sized populations across the United States,” VanHerck said.
VanHerck confirmed that two Afghan evacuees are currently in federal custody, including one who allegedly assaulted a female soldier last month at Fort Bliss in Texas. In addition, there have been eight reported cases of robbery and theft.
“While we have seen a small number of incidents reported, you may not realize the reports are often coming from Afghan guests, VanHerck told reporters. “Afghans reporting incidents is a good indicator of their commitment to keeping the community safe, as well as their confidence in our people.”
MILITARY SUICIDES IN 2020 ‘TROUBLING,’ THOUGH NOT A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE: REPORT
HYPERSONIC OR JUST HYPE? At the same briefing, VanHerck said the U.S. is “still making an assessment” of North Korea’s claim it tested a hypersonic missile Tuesday.
“The intelligence community is still making an assessment of the North Korean claim,” VanHerck told reporters. “We’ll just have to see.”
“Right now, it would be my assessment that the homeland would be safe and secure from a hypersonic capability as North Korea claims they have tested,” he added.
North Korea called its missile, the Hwasong-8, a “strategic weapon.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: ‘We did it together’: Blinken rejects Pentagon blame for Afghanistan chaos
Washington Examiner: The single flawed assumption that sunk Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal plan
Washington Examiner: Six takeaways from military brass’s Capitol Hill showdown
Washington Examiner: US reliance on Taliban security was ‘original sin’ that led to suicide bombing, GOP Rep. says
Washington Examiner: Nearly 94% of active-duty airmen are partially vaccinated
Washington Examiner: Troops file lawsuit for COVID-19 vaccination exemption for those who already had virus
Washington Examiner: Turkey interested in Russian fighter jets and submarines, despite NATO ties
Washington Examiner: Military suicides in 2020 ‘troubling,’ though not a significant increase: Report
Washington Examiner: GOP lawmakers call for Marine who criticized Afghanistan withdrawal to be taken out of the brig
Washington Examiner: Louie Gohmert shares reassuring update on jailed Marine after visit
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Turkey’s Erdogan bows to Russia and demands billions from US
Military Times: Here’s How The New Continuing Resolution Will Frustrate The Pentagon
AP: China, U.S. In Talks On Military Relations Amid Strained Ties
Defense News: Chinese Airshow Offers Glimpse At Military’s New Drones
Washington Post: South Korea to Biden administration: North Korea is ‘strengthening’ its missile program
Washington Post: Suit seeks to halt Biden’s vaccination mandates for federal workers, troops
Air Force Magazine: GAO Expects Space Command Findings by Spring; Colo. Lawmakers Want Basing Work Stopped
Air Force Magazine: Space Force Selects 670 More Soldiers, Sailors, Marines for Transfer
USNI News: U.S. Marine F-35Bs To Embark On Japan’s Largest Warship In October
Time: America’s War In Afghanistan Is Over. But In The Horn Of Africa, Its War On Terror Rages On
19fortyfive.com: China’s New Aircraft Carriers Will Soon Have Stealth Fighters
19fortyfive.com: The Navy’s Constellation-Class Frigate: Built To Sink Anything?
19fortyfive.com: Barrett M82A1: The Sniper Rifle That Kills from 2,515 Yards Away
Calendar
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 1
10 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual event, “ A Conversation with Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen H. Hicks,” with Nina Easton, CSIS senior associate; and Beverly Kirk, fellow and director for outreach, International Security Program, and director, CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative. https://www.csis.org/events/conversation
WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 6
12 p.m. — Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security virtual event: “Women in Uniform: Does Participation Shift U.S. Military Culture and Operations?” with Amb. Christian Wenaweser, permanent representative of Liechtenstein to the U.N.; Robert Nagel, postdoctoral research fellow, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security; Retired Marine Col. Kyleanne Hunter, director, Strategy and Warfare Center, assistant professor Department of Military and Strategic Studies at the U.S. Air Force Academy; Charity Borg, women, peace & security planner, USINDOPACOM Office of Women, Peace and Security; and Amb. Melanne Vervee, executive director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-uniform
2:30 p.m. — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security oversees the Defense Writers Group conversation with Maj. Gen. Corey Martin, director of operations, U.S. Transportation Command. https://nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu/
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Surely Pakistan is not to blame for the fact that 300,000-plus well-trained and well-equipped Afghan security forces saw no reason to fight the lightly armed Taliban. The underlying problem was an Afghan government structure lacking legitimacy in the eyes of the average Afghan.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an op-ed in the Washington Post headlined, “Don’t blame Pakistan.”
