Why Bagram wouldn’t have made a difference, and more about the Afghanistan exit plan
By Meghann Myers
Sep 29, 01:17 PM
Senior military leaders took to Capitol Hill for the second day in a row on Wednesday, to answer questions from lawmakers about what has, by turns, been referred to both as a catastrophe and an unprecedented success in the final days of U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
While leaders reiterated and lawmakers concurred that the non-combatant evacuation from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, the largest ever undertaken with more than 124,000 civilians rescued, was a logistical success, the overall withdrawal left much to be desired.
Prepared to field the questions, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin included a prebuttal in his prepared remarks.
“So let me take each in turn,” he began, then listing off criticisms: That the U.S. shouldn’t have closed Bagram Air Base before the ultimate exit and that the civilian evacuation process should have begun sooner.
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/afghanistan/2021/09/29/why-bagram-wouldnt-have-made-a-difference-and-more-about-the-afghanistan-exit-plan/
