Generals Contradict Biden on Afghanistan Advice

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, contradicted President Joe Biden’s claim last month that top military advisers didn’t recommend keeping a residual force in Afghanistan. 

In a Sept. 28 Senate hearing, both generals said they believe the U.S. should have left a residual force of at least 2,500 troops, and that Biden received those recommendations.

But in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News on Aug. 18, Biden denied that his decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan went against the advice of his top military advisers.

Stephanopoulos, Aug, 18: But your top military advisers warned against withdrawing on this timeline. They wanted you to keep about 2,500 troops.

Biden: No, they didn’t. It was split. Tha– that wasn’t true. That wasn’t true.

Stephanopoulos: They didn’t tell you that they wanted troops to stay?

Biden: No. Not at — not in terms of whether we were going to get out in a time frame all troops. They didn’t argue against that.

Stephanopoulos: So no one told — your military advisers did not tell you, “No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that”?

Biden: No. No one said that to me that I can recall.