Redstate reports that MG Donahue ordered 50-100 people off last flight out of Kabul to take a war trophy

Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Maj. Gen. Donahue is the final American service member to depart Afghanistan; his departure closes the U.S. mission to evacuate American citizens, Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants, and vulnerable Afghans.

Poetrooper sends in that Redstate is reporting that Major General Donahue, Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division and who was the on-the-ground commander in the final days of the Kabul debacle, is said to have ordered everyone off a C-17 so that a war trophy could be loaded. Of course, when people went to re-board the plane, there wasn’t enough room.

From Redstate;

In what’s been described as a photo that “may become an enduring memory of the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan,” Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue walks toward a C-17 transport plane at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, the last US military member who had boots on Afghan soil.

In a number of articles penned in the following days, Donahue is characterized as “uniquely qualified” for that moment in time and generally depicted as a humble, understated leader of his division.

Unfortunately, everything isn’t quite as it may seem. During the last hours of the evacuation, according to troops under his command and as documented by photographs and witness statements, Donahue ordered all of the passengers aboard a C-17 transport plane to disembark so he could have a souvenir loaded onto the plane. That souvenir, or “war trophy,” was an inoperable Taliban-owned Toyota Hilux with a fully operational Russian ZU-23 anti-aircraft autocannon mounted in the bed. Once the Hilux was loaded passengers were allowed back on the plane, but, of course, there wasn’t room for all of them. According to troops on the scene, at least 50 people and perhaps as many as 100 people were left at Kabul to make room for the Hilux.

It is believed that many of those left behind have been or will be killed by the Taliban, in part because of information allegedly provided to Taliban commanders by Donahue himself. We already know that he was in direct contact with Taliban commanders that day; Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the US Central Command, said in a press briefing that:

“[O]ne of the last things [Donahue] did before leaving was talk to the Taliban commander that he had been coordinating with about the time that we were going to leave just to let them know that we were leaving.”

Multiple sources within the military and the intelligence community have revealed to RedState that Donahue’s coordination with the Taliban that day included more than simply letting them know that we were checking out early. These sources say that Donahue provided the Taliban with a full manifest of passengers aboard the flights including passport information, photos, and biometric information for those passengers. The flights included US troops, Afghans who were employed by the Department of Defense, key human intelligence (HUMINT) assets, and other SIV applicants and their families.

Now, I can’t fault the man for wanting to have a Toyota Hilux. Those trucks are awesome. It would obviously be misguided to bring one back in the place of people that need evacuating. There could be legitimate reasons for this, such as taking the ZU-23 AA cannon for intelligence purposes. Since that gun type has been in service for six decades, that would initially seem unlikely.

Redstate got some videos of the loading of the Hilux though, they report;

Some of the soldiers that were tasked with loading the Hilux onto the C-17 did not want to assist Donahue in this endeavor and took photos and videos to document what was happening. Transcripts of two videos have been provided to RedState.

In one transcript a soldier loading the Hilux remarked:

“Nothing says American success and prosperity like a ZU-23 in the back of a Hilux.”

Another pointed out that under “standing orders” war trophies aren’t allowed:

“I thought we aren’t allowed war trophies per the standing orders. They court martialed [name redacted] for trying to smuggle a pocket knife he took from the Taliban.”

Another soldier responded:

“You are not a Major General. Shut up and push.”

And, a soldier who refused to participate said:

“I want nothing to do with this because war trophies = war crimes.”

Another soldier asked about the proper documentation for the war souvenir:

“Why wasn’t a DD603 war souvenir registration/authorization completed?”

The reply?

“The general doesn’t need such a form.”

One soldier said that Donahue’s second-in-command gave this reasoning for bringing the Hilux home:

“[I]t will serve as a symbol in the 82nd Airborne Division Museum on Fort Bragg of how the Division came into a chaotic situation and by confiscating the Hilux from the Taliban we quickly regained the tactical advantage in order to complete the mission.”

It’s stunning that Donahue believes we had the tactical advantage at the Kabul airport at any time during the evacuation.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Afghanistan, Army, Taliban, WTF?