More than two years after the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, two top military leaders who led the operation will testify before Congress about the hasty retreat that left 13 soldiers dead.
Lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee will question former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and former U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie on Tuesday.
The hearing serves as a platform for former military leaders to weigh in on the withdrawal, which has been decried as a failure by some Democrats and nearly all Republicans.
It is the first time the two generals have testified before Congress since their retirement, and lawmakers want to get candid answers from the former military top brass who they say has critical insights into Biden’s handling of the disaster.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, plans to shine a light on the Gold Star families in attendance and recount the horrors of the withdrawal that left 13 troops dead.
A committee official told DailyMail.com that members are preparing to ask the tough questions as Milley and McKenzie “won’t be upset” by most of the questions.
A helicopter with a Taliban flag flies above Taliban supporters who have gathered to celebrate the US withdrawal of all its troops from Afghanistan
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will question former Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley and former U.S. Central Command commander General Kenneth McKenzie on Tuesday.
The Republicans’ goal is to obtain information that is not currently public to provide insights for the Gold Star families present.
Another committee staffer told DailyMail.com that there are six clear goals Republicans hope to achieve at today’s hearing.
The first is to show that the decision to quickly withdraw US troops from Afghanistan was Joe Biden’s call, and that he made the decision against the advice of his advisers.
Moreover, they plan to establish that the Taliban takeover was predictable and show that the Biden administration did not anticipate how quickly it would happen.
They will also review the State Department’s poor planning that has led to confusion and chaos on the ground.
According to the aide, Pentagon leaders — including Milley and McKenzie — will be put on the spot to answer for their mistakes that led to the loss of 13 troops.
Milley previously called the withdrawal a “logistical success but a strategic failure” and said he has “great regrets” about the operation.
“It didn’t end the way I wanted it to,” Milley said in an interview with ABC news in September before his retirement. “In a broader sense, the war was lost.”
McKenzie also expressed his regret about the operation in an interview NPRsaying ‘that’s something that haunts me to this day.’
Steven Nikoui, the Gold Star father of slain Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui told DailyMail.com last week that this hearing is crucial.
“Joe Biden is personally the reason for that fiasco,” he told DailyMail.com, “100%.”
“I’m angry at Milley and Mackenzie because I think they should have been bold, taken a stand and resigned. Maybe it would have changed the course of history.”
But Nikoui says he just doesn’t have the money to come back for the hearing, which is “sad” because many other Gold Star parents are in the same boat.
Tuesday’s hearing is just one of many congressional sessions this year devoted to the 2021 military withdrawal.
In January, the committee held a hearing on the Taliban’s reprisal killings of key U.S. Afghan allies.
In February, the committee held a hearing on the Biden administration’s failure to uphold the Doha agreement that brokered peace between the US and the Taliban.
Videos and images of the 2021 withdrawal show US military aircraft evacuating the country as desperate residents cling to the outside of the plane in an attempt to escape Taliban rule
The withdrawal culminated in an attempt by tens of thousands of Afghans to evacuate the country with US military transports.
“As a result of the Biden administration’s inability to plan, the U.S. military was forced to conduct this emergency evacuation surrounded by tens of thousands of Taliban terrorists,” said House Speaker Michael McCaul, R-Texas , during a hearing in February.
“Simply put, President Biden and Secretary Blinken have endangered thousands of American lives through their incompetence and willful blindness.”
McCaul also threatened to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress last month for failing to turn over the Department’s After-Action Review (ARR) notes on the Afghanistan operation.
The Texans claim the notes contain potentially damning first-hand accounts of the recording.
Nikoui was arrested after interrupting President Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7.
“Remember Abbey Gate,” Nikoui shouted at the president before being escorted from the House of Representatives chamber and arrested by Capitol police.
Nikoui was released later that evening with help from Republican lawmakers.
Kareem was one of thirteen soldiers killed in a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the evacuation.
However, the Biden administration has largely blamed the Trump administration for the operation.
“President Biden was committed to ending the war in Afghanistan, but when he came to power he was confronted with the difficult reality the Trump administration left him,” the White House wrote in a report announcing the withdrawal described.