Join Chiefs Chairman Tells Fox News What You Saw in Afghanistan Withdrawal Was Product of ‘An Extensive Amount of Planning’ [VIDEO]

On Saturday’s “Fox Report,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said to Fox’s Jennifer Griffin that the speed of the collapse of Afghanistan’s military and government was surprising, and “what you saw unfold with this noncombatant evacuation operation was one of the contingency plans.” And “There was an extensive amount of planning in this.”

So, just to be clear, Milley, who always looks like he’s in need of a laxative, says that mission failure by leaving American citizens, green card holders, and Afghan allies behind was the result of an extensive amount of planning?

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Griffin asked Milley – around the 2:30 mark -, “Now, 77 percent of Americans say that they are in favor of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the end of the war. But 74 percent say that they are not happy with how the withdrawal went. Could the withdrawal been done better? Was it military planning that caused the people to not feel that the withdrawal was as it should have been?”

Milley responded, “I think a couple of things. One, is the collapse of the Afghan Army happened at a much faster rate and very unexpected, by pretty much everybody, and then with that is the collapse of the Afghan government. So, that was definitely a surprise. But I will say that there was an awful lot of planning done, ROC drills, rehearsals, etc. And what you saw unfold with this noncombatant evacuation operation was one of the contingency plans. And the speed at which it was executed, the flow of the aircraft, we had planes taking off every 30 to 45 minutes or so. We had — we brought in 7,000 — or 6,000 U.S. troops, and then there [were] about a thousand or more or so Afghan troops that secured HKIA. The first day, it was clearly chaotic, no question about it. You saw that on video, etc. But within about 24 hours, that settled down and it became a much more orderly process. The security of HKIA was challenging to say the least, and we saw the bombing. But that would have happened no matter where it was. People talk about Bagram, wherever there’s a perimeter, if there’s no outside force, if there’s no Afghan force securing it, and there wasn’t any, then there’s going to be U.S. forces on the perimeter, on the edge. And they were doing what they were asked to do, which is go out and screen and process people.”

Milley added, “So, were there … there’s a lot of lessons learned. And I think we’re going to go through that in a very systematic way. I know we are on the Joint Staff. I know Central Command will. And I’m sure the other departmental agencies will. From a military standing point though … military planning standpoint … those plans were done in detail. There was an extensive amount of planning in this.”

How come Yes Men like Milley can’t admit that they didn’t have the cojones to stand up to President Joe Biden, the houseplant, by telling him the worst possible idea would be to get the military out first, before any civilians? That one weakness is what turned the withdrawal into an emergency evacuation that embarrassed the United States.

Milley further stated that when the Afghan government and military collapsed, it forced a change of plans due to the “permissive” environment.

Milley – at around the 6:30 mark – said there were plans to retake Bagram Air Base. I would love to know the reasoning for ever giving it up in the first place.

Bagram is a like a small city and it has two runways. It’s only a 20 minute helicopter flight from the Kabul airport. They could have flown Americans from Kabul to Bagram to help get more out, but that would have required US military to be in charge of security for Kabul. Commander of the United States Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie turned down the US military being in charge of security and gave it over to the Taliban, a move that should have him court martialed. The US military could have ventured out to gather Americans, take them to Kabul airport, then get them on a helo to Bagram. The only thing in the way was our own incompetent generals mucking things up to appease a dementia-laden Commander-in-Chief.

Milley explained in order to take back Bagram that mission would require bringing in 15 to 20 thousand troops and they feared it “would re-initiate a war with the Taliban.” Milley said he didn’t think all of that warranted an attempt to take back Bagram. They never should have given it up in the first place.

The general said, “Well, if we went in and re-took Bagram, if that were to happen, if that decision were ever made, we had contingencies to do that, by the way. And those were briefed. But that’s a significant troop commitment, number one. You’re looking at 18th Airborne Corps, you’re probably looking at 10,000 or more additional forces, and then you’re going to have to secure Bagram, you’re going to have to clear Kabul, and you’re going to have to secure KIA. So, your total, you’re looking somewhere in the range of 15-20,000 additional forces. And, most importantly, you would re-initiate a war with the Taliban. Which, of course, we could do. But that’s what would have happened. So, you would have been fighting ISIS and the Taliban, and with all the casualties, etc. I know a lot of people were talking about it. But I wonder if the support would have been there if, had that been done, had that decision been made. I personally think the military conditions did not warrant that. I think the military conditions warranted what we did.”

He is just making excuses for why he allowed the troops to be evacuated before everyone else involved. He also allowed for our military equipment totalling about $86 billion to be left behind for the Taliban to take over. That’s treason!

The Times of London reported that Biden left a stunning arsenal of military equipment and weapons for the Taliban terrorists. This includes around 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pickup trucks and SUVs, 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units on top of helicopters and warplanes.