(Ken Silva, Headline USA) NBC News reported Sunday that the Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior U.S. military officers involved in the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan—exploring whether they could be court-martialed.
“Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, including gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason,” NBC reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official and “a person familiar with the plan.”
One of the officials allegedly involved in the plan is Matt Flynn, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats. However, Flynn’s lawyer—who, bizarrely, is Democratic operative Mark Zaid—denied rumors of his client’s involvement.
“Matt Flynn has nothing to do with the Trump transition team, much less leading any review concerning military justice matters,” Zaid said, reportedly adding that “no one has sought out Mr. Flynn’s views on this hypothetical legal scenario.”
Biden’s disastrous withdrawl entailed pulling military personnel before all civilians were evaculated, and it saw the Pentagon leaving billions of dollars in equipment behind. Tragically, it also saw 13 U.S. service members and 10 Afghan civilians killed.
Biden administration and Defense Department officials have tried to whitewash their culpability for the fiasco.
After the 13 U.S. service members were killed, for instance, the Pentagon retaliated with a drone strike that slaughtered the above-mentioned 10 Afghans. For days after that attack, Pentagon officials lied to the public and insisted they killed legitimate terrorists instead of civilians.
But after a Sept. 10, 2021, New York Times investigation raised doubts about the veracity of the military’s claims, the Department of Defense admitted that the drone strike killed innocents.
“We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to U.S. forces,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley admitted a week later.
“I offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed. This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport.”
Earlier this year, Milley changed his story about when he knew he was responsible for killing civilians. In 2021, he said he learned of it within hours of the drone strikes—but earlier this year he said he didn’t know until about four days later.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
