In an open letter released on Aug. 30, Ninety retired generals and admirals said Milley and Austin should have advised Biden against the Afghanistan withdrawal. “As principal military advisors” to the Commander-in-Chief/President, the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs “should have recommended against this dangerous withdrawal in the strongest possible terms,” they wrote. “If they did not do everything within their authority to stop the hasty withdrawal, they should resign,” the letter demands.
They also said that if Milley and Austin did advise against this, they should have resigned if Biden didn’t take their direction, to show their disapproval and to not have to carry out the mission that ended up with the lives of 13 U.S. service members being lost.
