On Oct. 12, the Department of Defense issued a bizarre news release in which it boasted about its disastrous Afghanistan evacuation operation. It claimed that “[t]he keys to the evacuation operation were connectivity and planning.”
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The DOD titled the strange news release, “General Says Planning, Connectivity Were Keys to Afghanistan Evacuation.” It starts by quoting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley as saying that “U.S. efforts in Afghanistan [were] a ‘tactical success, but a strategic failure.'” It then immediately quotes him as declaring that the failure was the “Afghan government and military [falling] to the Taliban faster than anyone expected.”
There is no indication that Milley, or any other senior military leader, is shouldering any of the blame.
The news release gets weirder after that. It starts talking about the “success” of the Afghan retreat and evacuation, even as the reality is that it was a disaster by any objective standard.
The August evacuation was defined by sheer chaos and confusion. Afghans overwhelmed the Kabul airport while the Taliban surrounded it, American military aircraft took off with Afghans clinging and falling from them, violence was rampant, American civilians were unaccounted for and left behind, billions of dollars of weapons and equipment supplied to Afghan forces fell into Taliban hands, the U.S. killed Afghan civilians in a remotely piloted aircraft airstrike, and a suicide bomber killed 13 American troops at the Kabul airport.
But, again, you wouldn’t know how terrible it was by the DOD news release.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Corey J. Martin discussed the operation last week with the Defense Writers Group. The keys to the evacuation operation were connectivity and planning, he said.
Planning for the noncombatant evacuation operation began in April, immediately after President Joe Biden said the U.S. effort in Afghanistan would end. “It started with planning, even though the timing of this event was not known,” the general said.
The DOD continued to give itself accolades.
In August, the Taliban offensive against the Afghan government intensified and provinces began falling like dominos. Martin said the speed of the collapse was “a bit of a surprise,” but the Transcom planners were not starting from scratch when the need for the evacuation became apparent.
Still later.
Connectivity among the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff and the U.S. combatant commands was paramount. Martin said there were constant communications with higher headquarters and with U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command and U.S. Northern Command.
In addition, there were nationals from many allied and partner countries in Kabul. Martin said at least 30 nations cooperated with the effort, which required constant communications with State Department colleagues, Homeland Security and more.
Once more, the DOD does not seem to realize how out-of-touch with reality it is–even when factoring in the “tactical success, but a strategic failure” claim.
Troops on the ground may have performed exceptionally well. But senior leaders certainly did not. And yet to this day none of them have expressed anything significant that would indicate that they take responsibility for what happened. Nor have any of them have resigned in objection to the orders that the Biden regime gave them.
Senior military leaders looked terrible in August during the disastrous Afghanistan evacuation. The bizarre press release the DOD released on Oct. 12 makes them look even worse.
Top Image: Evacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 23, 2021. The “gray tails” flew the evacuees to safe bases in the Middle East. Photo by Marine Corps Sgt. Isaiah Campbell.