Promotion of the last soldier to escape from Afghanistan detained by Republicans in the Senate

The promotion of a general who became famous for being the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan has been delayed by a GOP senator, a Senate aide confirmed to Military.com on Friday.

Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue has been nominated to receive a fourth star and take command of the U.S Army forces in Europe was noticeably absent from a series of military promotions that the Senate approved Thursday night before leaving for a week-long Thanksgiving break. An aide confirmed that Donahue’s promotion was passed over because Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., held up the nomination.

Military.com reached out to Mullin’s office for comment, but a spokesman was unable to provide a statement in advance of publication.

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Mullin’s move appears to be tied to Donahue’s role in the Afghanistan withdrawal and comes after Trump’s transition team reportedly contacted Republican senators to encourage them to hold off, said a Senate aide who asked not to be identified in order to discussion of the internal affairs of the Senate.

Donahue’s holdup is the latest sign that Republicans and the incoming Trump administration plan to target military officers involved in the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan – a chaotic mission carried out by the Biden administration but initiated by the first Trump administration. NBC News was also reported last weekend that Trump transition team officials are compiling a list of current and former officials involved in the recall with the possibility of court-martialing them.

Donahue is currently the commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Liberty in North Carolina.

When he withdrew from Afghanistan, Donahue was a two-star commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. In this position, he oversaw the 82nd Division’s mission to secure John Paul II International Airport. Hamid Karzai during the evacuation of Americans and defenseless Afghans after the Taliban took over Kabul.

The evacuation was interrupted by scenes of desperate Afghans raiding the airport ahead of the arrival of the 82nd Division, an ISIS suicide bombing outside the airport gate that killed 13 U.S. soldiers, and a failed U.S. airstrike in response to a suicide attack that killed 10 civilians.

Donahue, a professional special operator, is usually shrouded in mystery about his work. But he found himself in the spotlight when the Pentagon released photos of him climbing the last of them C-17 Globemaster III leave Afghanistan after all other soldiers have boarded, making him the last American service member in Afghanistan.

The grainy photos, tinted green because they were taken through night vision, immediately became an iconic symbol of disengagement.

Although the withdrawal was initiated by the first Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban, Trump has strongly criticized President Joe Biden for the sloppy implementation of the withdrawal throughout the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump campaigned with family members of U.S. soldiers killed during the withdrawal, and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance at one point he said Vice President Kamala Harris “might go to hell” because no one was fired because of the withdrawal.

A government investigation into the collapse of U.S.-backed Afghan forces blamed Trump and Biden equally.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction “found that the most important factor in the collapse of the (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) in August 2021 was the U.S. decision to withdraw military forces and contractors from Afghanistan by signing the U.S.-Taliban agreement under Trump in February 2020, followed by President Biden’s announcement of withdrawal in April 2021.” the inspector general wrote in a 2022 report.

The hold does not prevent a nominee from being confirmed or promoted by a military candidate, but it does mean that the Senate must use its limited voting time for a long series of roll call votes, rather than confirming nominations on a party-by-party basis by voice vote as is usually done for military nominees. The Senate is scheduled to be in session for just three more weeks before the end of the year, after which any unconfirmed nominee or promotion will have to start the process from scratch unless senators agree to waive the chamber’s rules.

While it has become common for senators to block civilian candidates for Pentagon positions over political disputes, until recently it was considered taboo for promotions to military officers.

Last year, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, D-Alabama, spent 10 months blocking the promotions of a general and an admiral over his opposition to a Pentagon policy of providing leave and reimbursements to soldiers traveling for abortions.

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