Rep. Mike Rogers, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said congressional testimony this week showed that President Joe Biden ignored the advice of top generals about what to do in Afghanistan while former President Donald Trump “did listen to it.” That’s not entirely accurate.
In testimony this week, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley said that last November, Trump backed off an order moving up the date to take all troops out of Afghanistan to Jan. 15 after Milley and others spoke to White House officials “regarding the risks associated with such a withdrawal.”
Trump instead opted to reduce troop levels to 2,500.
But that went against the advice of top military officials, who recommended at the time that Trump not reduce troop levels below the then-level of 4,500 until the Taliban met conditions of an agreement reached with the White House back in February 2020.
Even after he left office, Trump continued to advocate that Biden stick to the May 1 deadline for complete withdrawal that was part of that February 2020 agreement, an agreement criticized during congressional testimony from both Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command.
During the hearing, Rogers noted that testimony had shown Biden decided to completely withdraw troops from Afghanistan over the objections of Milley, McKenzie and Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, then the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. They all relayed to Biden early in his presidency that they thought the U.S. should keep a force of at least 2,500 troops in Afghanistan to encourage a “negotiated solution” between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Rogers contrasted that with Trump allegedly following his generals’ advice.
Rogers, Sept. 29: I think the general officers here, and secretary, have made it very clear that they gave the president advice that he wouldn’t listen to. The last president, they gave him advice and he did listen to it.
However, Trump also didn’t listen to his top military advisers.
During House testimony on Sept. 29, Milley said that based on his advice and “the advice of the commanders at the time,” then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper submitted a memorandum to the White House on Nov. 9 “recommending that we maintain the US forces, which were then at about 4,500 in Afghanistan until conditions were met for further reductions.”
That confirmed what Esper had told CNN in an Aug. 17 interview.
“My concern was that President Trump, by continuing to want to withdraw American forces out of Afghanistan, undermined the agreement, which is why, in the fall, when he was calling for a return of U.S. forces, by Christmas, I objected, and formally wrote in a letter to him, a memo, based on recommendations from the military chain of command and my senior civilian leadership that we not go further, that we not reduce below 4,500 troops, unless and until conditions were met by the…
Read More: Trump Rejected Generals’ Advice, Too