Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, right, an officer who oversaw the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and is now nominated to lead the Army in Europe and Africa, was left out of a batch of military promotions approved by the Senate on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (Sgt. Alison Strout/U.S. Army photo)
WASHINGTON — A batch of military promotions approved by the Senate on Thursday left out Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, an officer who oversaw the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and is now nominated to lead the Army in Europe and Africa.
It remains unclear why Donahue’s nomination to become commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and receive a promotion to four-star general was not included.
However, The Washington Post reported that a hold was placed on Donahue’s promotion by Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.
The Post said the report was based on correspondence it had seen, and there was no comment from Mullin, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, or his office.
Three years ago, Mullin, then a member of the House, twice tried to personally rescue people from Afghanistan during the evacuation, only to be rebuffed once by the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan and once by the Pentagon, the Post said.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved nearly 1,000 promotions, including Donahue’s, earlier this week before advancing them to the full upper chamber.
Then-Major Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the Army 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 30, 2021. (Alex Burnett/U.S. Army)
The timing of Donahue’s promotion is now uncertain with the Senate not expected to return from recess until December. A senator’s hold on his nomination could be bypassed with a time-consuming vote on the Senate floor.
The chamber resorted to such a procedure last year after Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., blocked the promotions of hundreds of general and flag officers for months in a failed bid to overturn a Pentagon policy providing troops with access to abortion and other reproductive health care.
Donahue is best known for being the last U.S. service member to leave Afghanistan, a moment that was captured in a grainy night vision photo that went viral in 2021. He led the 82nd Airborne Division at the time and was responsible for securing the airfield at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The chaotic evacuation of Americans and Afghan refugees from Kabul continues to be a frequent target of criticism by Republicans who blame President Joe Biden’s administration for a suicide attack at the airport that killed 13 service members.
A 2022 independent review by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said decisions made by Biden as well as former President Donald Trump were key factors in the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s security forces.
As Trump readies for a second term, he is reportedly searching for a way to prosecute U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the violent withdrawal. He has called the hectic exit of American troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of war a “humiliation.”
Donahue was pictured boarding the last plane out of Kabul, walking up a ramp with an assault rifle in hand. He sent a message to his troops as the C-17 cargo plane got off the ground: “Job well done, I’m proud of you all.”
Donahue has served as the commander of XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, N.C., since 2022 and, if confirmed, would replace Gen. Darryl Williams at the Army’s Europe and Africa headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany.
He has had a distinguished career in the Army since entering service in 1992, with roles as an Army Ranger and in the elite Delta Force. He deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere and served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s deputy director for special operations and counterterrorism.
In 2022, Donahue was part of an 82nd Airborne contingent that arrived in Poland shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
