Leaving 2,500 Troops: Commander Gen Go Against Biden’s Claim

According to report, Gen McKenzie told senators on Tuesday that he had specifically recommended that the US keep a force of roughly 2,500 US service members in Afghanistan beyond the main withdrawal of American forces.

Commander Gen Kenneth McKenzie directly contradicted a claim from President Joe Biden about suggestions for a remainder force in Afghanistan during a hearing of the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

"I recommended we keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan,” said Gen McKenzie, a statement that was later echoed by Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The statements called into question Mr Biden’s assertion in an interview with ABC News in the days following the Kabul withdrawal that “no one said that” in regard to keeping additional troops in country.

“Your military advisors 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’?” asked ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in August.

“No one said that to me that I can recall,” the president responded.

Sen Dan Sullivan of Alaska grilled both Mr Milley and Mr McKenzie over whether Mr Biden had spoken falsely in the ABC News interview when he claimed that he never heard advice urging him to keep 2,500 troops or a similar footprint in Afghanistan.

“You do not have to cover for the President when he’s not telling the truth. Was that a false statement or not?”

“I’m not going to characterise a statement from the president of the United States,” Gen Milley responded, while Gen McKenzie responded that he had given his “view” of the situation.

Sen Tom Cotton joined in with his own scathing remarks, adding: “Here’s what I’ve learned so far: Number one, the president of the United States lied to the American people about the advice that you gave to him, about the military judgement that you provided for him.”

Republicans opened up Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate Armed Forces Committee with a slew of attacks aimed at Mr Biden, his advisers, as well as US Defence Department officials, for the chaotic pullout of US troops from Afghanistan and the collapse of the Afghan government.