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An admiral for the U.S. Navy claimed “high-profile” requests, including one from first lady Jill Biden, caused disruption to overall Afghanistan evacuation efforts last year.
Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, who serves as a special assistant to the Director of the Navy Staff, said incessant calls for help during the efforts to get Americans out of the now-Taliban-controlled country caused a “distraction” and “created competition for already stressed resources.”
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Thursday, July 1, 2021.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Vasley’s remarks, stemming from a late September interview, came in a story by the Washington Post, which obtained a 2,000-page report from the probe of the 17-day operation out of Kabul.
“That’s accurate,” Vasley said when asked in sworn testimony for the report whether Pope Francis and First Lady Jill Biden intervened in evacuation efforts to request help on behalf of others.
BIDEN ADMIN’S AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL FAILURES DETAILED IN REPORT
“I was being contacted by representatives from the Holy See to assist the Italian military contingent … in getting through groups … of special interest to the Vatican,” he said. “That is just one of many examples.”
“I cannot stress enough how these high-profile requests ate up bandwidth and created competition for already stressed resources,” Vasley added.
President Joe Biden looks down alongside First Lady Jill Biden as they attend the dignified transfer of the remains of a fallen service member, one of the 13 members of the US military killed in Afghanistan.
(Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Vasley, overwhelmed with phone calls, text messages and emails at the time at the U.S. operations center at Kabul’s international airport, told investigators he established a “coordination cell” to help handle the high volume of communication…
Source : foxnews
