US Senate approves promotion of general involved in Afghanistan withdrawal

By Reuters
December 04, 2024
US Army Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, steps on board a C-17 transport plane as the last US service member to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 30, 2021 in a photograph taken using night vision optics. — Reuters
US Army Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, steps on board a C-17 transport plane as the last US service member to leave Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 30, 2021 in a photograph taken using night vision optics. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed the promotion of Army Lieutenant General Christopher Donahue, who had been a commander in Afghanistan during the US withdrawal, after it was briefly blocked by a Republican senator.

Senator Markwayne Mullin had placed a hold on Donahue’s nomination to become a four-star general and the top commander of the US Army in Europe.

President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have decried the 2021 US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and vowed to go after those responsible for it. During his successful campaign for re-election, Trump said in August he would ask for the resignation of every senior official “who touched the Afghanistan calamity.”