(CNN) — An Military normal who oversaw the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was promoted to a four-star officer after a Republican senator dropped a maintain on his nomination, in accordance with a Senate aide.
The Senate on Monday confirmed Lt. Gen. Chris Donahue to be the commander of US Military Europe-Africa by unanimous consent, which means no senator objected to his approval. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, had beforehand blocked the promotion, regardless of the Senate Armed Providers Committee advancing 984 different army promotions.
It was not instantly clear why Mullin dropped his maintain, and CNN is reaching out to Mullin’s workplace for remark.
Donahue, who presently serves because the commander of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, oversaw the ultimate withdrawal from Afghanistan and was the final US soldier on the bottom at Kabul’s worldwide airport.
An evening imaginative and prescient image of Donahue boarding a cargo flight out of the airport turned a symbolic picture of the tip of a 20-year conflict and a chaotic withdrawal that noticed the deaths of 13 US troops in a suicide bombing.
Along with his present place because the commander of a storied army corps, Donahue has additionally been vital within the US effort to assist Ukraine, serving to to determine the Safety Help Group-Ukraine. The group was established in November 2022 as a extra long-term extension of the work of 18th Airborne Corps, which deployed to Europe to strengthen NATO’s japanese flank after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In a army profession that has spanned greater than three a long time since his commencement from West Level, Donahue has deployed 20 instances, together with time in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, North Africa and Japanese Europe, in accordance with his Military biography.
Mullin was one of the vital vocal Republicans calling for accountability after the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 US service members throughout the closing days of the evacuation from Afghanistan. On the third anniversary of the bombing, Mullin stated that “not one person has been held accountable for the disaster” and explicitly named Donahue. He additionally named former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Gen. Mark Milley, who has repeatedly come beneath assault from President-elect Donald Trump, with whom he had a contentious relationship.
Donahue had the very public and vocal backing of quite a few former Protection Division officers, together with Mark Esper, who served as Trump’s Protection secretary for 16 months throughout his first time period. Esper stated on social media that Donahue was a “great pick” and had “tremendous experience.”
Calling for the maintain to be lifted, Esper stated, “Responsibility for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 rests with the White House, not the Defense Dept, and certainly not with the uniformed leaders who faithfully executed Pres Biden’s misbegotten decisions.”
Retired Gen. Tony Thomas, who led US Particular Operations Command, blasted the maintain on social media, saying it was an “absolute disgrace,” whereas calling Donahue “the finest officer I ever served with.”
This story has been up to date with extra particulars.
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