Maj Gen Chris Donahue Wiki – Maj Gen Chris Donahue Biography
Maj Gen Chris Donahue is the commander of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, reportedly in charge of overseeing evacuations from Afghanistan. Before that, he was based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The two-star army general graduated from West Point in 1992 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry branch. In his nearly three decades of service, Donahue has served in Korea and Panama, before being promoted to Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
After a stint at the Pentagon, Donahue moved to Fort Bragg. A profile from Fort Benning says that Donahue later attended Harvard University as a member of the US Army War College.After this, he had stints as Director of Operations for the US Joint Special Operations Command. (JSOC), Deputy Commanding General of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, and as Commander of the Infantry School and Director of the Cross-functional Soldier Lethality Team. at Fort Benning.
Throughout his career, Donahue has been deployed 17 times in support of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, North Africa and Eastern Europe. However, for all of his service, he will be best remembered for the iconic image of Hamid Karzai International Airport. According to the New York Post, after the flight, he received a call from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. It marks the end of a long effort in which more than 123,000 people have been evacuated.
Maj Gen Chris Donahue Last serving US soldier leaves Afghanistan
As President Joe Biden promised, the United States finally ended its 20-year war and occupation of Afghanistan on August 31, or rather a few hours earlier. Shortly before midnight, Major General Christopher Donahue was the last American soldier to leave the country, boarding an American cargo plane in a now-viral image. The defining image is one of many that will highlight America’s “war on terror,” and it has now sparked considerable interest in Donahue.
Donahue’s departure marks the end of a chaotic retreat, which also turned out to be one of the largest evacuations in the United States. Over the course of more than two weeks, the United States evacuated hundreds of Afghan citizens and some allies as they rushed out of the Taliban-controlled nation. On August 27, the acting US ambassador to Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, was criticized for saying that some Americans “chose not to leave” despite the warnings. Those comments came as hundreds of people remained trapped in Afghanistan, with few exits when the United States began to wind down its operations.
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The urgency to leave was further highlighted by the explosion of an ISIS-K bomb outside the airport on August 26, and the Taliban also warned of the “consequences” if the United States did not leave. Biden has kept his promise and all American troops have now evacuated the nation. According to General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the United States Central Command, the evacuation flights ended 12 hours before Donahue and the military finally left the nation.
Some Americans were left behind
Despite the efforts, not everyone has been evacuated, Gen McKenzie noted. “We didn’t get everyone who wanted out,” he said Aug. 30. “There are Americans for various reasons who want to stay for a while.” It is not clear how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, but it is estimated that there are around 200. If they decide to leave, they will have to resort to diplomacy, but it could be a challenge.
Following the withdrawal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the nation would no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. Instead, the United States has moved its embassy to Doha, Qatar. “Given the uncertain security environment and the political situation in Afghanistan, it was a prudent step,” he said in comments on August 30. Without an embassy, it is unclear how Americans will contact the United States to have their case heard.
There are many unanswered questions and concerns that the US withdrawal has raised. For now, we won’t get many answers, and the Biden administration, like all of the above, is interested in promoting his successes rather than his failures.
Donahue’s iconic image is one of those, a reminder of America’s long and bloody conflict that seems to have changed little. At the time of the report, Donahue’s image had been retweeted more than 9,000 times and accumulated more than 29,000 likes since it was first published by the Department of Defense.
Since then, it has become a key topic of conversation on social media and has been tweeted by numerous people, including journalists, veterans, and even politicians. Senator Joe Manchin was one of many people who retweeted the photo and welcomed the troops. It has also been on the front page of almost all the news, as it is perhaps the most significant moment in the American conflict since troops first landed in Afghanistan in 2001.