The last soldier to board the final U.S. military plane out of Afghanistan was on track to be named a four-star general and command U.S. Army Europe-Africa, but his name has now been held back from a promotion.
Army Lt. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue’s promotion appeared on a list of generals released by the Pentagon last week who had been nominated by the President to lead key military commands. The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced a list of more than 900 officer promotions, including Donahue on Tuesday. However, his name was withheld Thursday from a final vote on the Senate floor which confirmed the rest of those nominations.
Army officials at the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.
Donahue’s nomination to command soldiers in Europe may have been put on hold by Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Senate aide familiar with the situation told Task & Purpose on condition of anonymity.
Task & Purpose reached out to Mullin’s office but officials declined to provide a statement for this story.
The Senate aide said the hold could be related to Donahue’s role during the Afghanistan withdrawal – which is reportedly a topic of concern in Washington D.C. after NBC news reported that Trump’s team is forming a list of senior U.S. military officers directly involved in the withdrawal and considering potentially court-martialing them for their role.
NOTUS reported last week that Mullin is being considered for a cabinet position in the Trump Administration, but the junior Oklahoma lawmaker was one of the few outspoken Republican critics of President-elect Donald Trump’s first Attorney General pick Matt Gaetz. Mullin called for the House ethics committee to release its report into allegations of Gaetz’s sexual misconduct involving a 17-year-old girl.
Before the controversial U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Donahue had spent the two decades of war in the region as a rising leader in the special operations world. Donahue’s early career included tours with the 75th Ranger Regiment and he led a squadron within the secretive and elite Delta Force. As a general, he has held a series of senior commands in both the special ops world and conventional army, including command of the 82nd Airborne in the final days of the Kabul withdrawal.
“Donahue is not a political guy at all. He’s an extremely apolitical person,” the Senate aide said. “If you wanted to create a badass American special operations general in a lab, it would spit out Donahue. He’s just not really the guy to go after for the political loyalty test.”
With reports of the Trump Administration’s plan to go after military leaders involved in the Afghanistan withdrawal, a former senior officer with background of the general officer promotion process said that the nominations coming in so late in the session put Donahue’s confirmation at risk for merely political reasons.
“This is simply bureaucratic incompetence that got it over there so late,” the former senior officer said.
Senate holds
Democrats still have control of the Senate but Republicans can still use their power to delay officer confirmations, a move used by Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville to protest the Defense Department’s out-of-state abortion travel policy. Tuberville refused to vote on a list of officers up for promotion which delayed the confirmation of hundreds of senior leaders nominated for key military positions in the U.S. and abroad. After 11 months, Tuberville lifted the hold for 425 officers in February 2023.
“He wasn’t targeting the people. He was targeting the policy and holding the people hostage. In this case, they’re targeting the person,” the senior officer said. “[Republicans] could certainly prevent action on the name until the Senate dissolves and the next Congress is established in January.”
Because the senior officer nominations came in with less than a month left of Congress being in session, Donahue’s promotion could be at risk of not passing before the Senate goes into recess and the new Republican-controlled Congress begins its work in 2025. This would make it even more difficult to confirm Donahue – if his role in Afghanistan is a factor.
“Donahue is one of the best officers in the U.S. Army,” the senior officer said. “This is 100% political.”
As commander, Donahue oversaw the 2023 name change of the North Carolina base from Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty – one of nine Army bases originally named after Confederate Army leaders who were recommended for name changes by a commission put together by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and after years of debate.
Donahue spent the last four years in charge of conventional forces at Fort Liberty, North Carolina – first as the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division for two years, and then as the commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps.
Impacts on other commands
Maj. Gen. Gregory Anderson, the former commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division and Fort Drum, New York base, was nominated by President Joe Biden to succeed Donahue as commander of the XVIII Airborne. He was confirmed in May to the position by the Senate. According to the General Officer Management Office, Anderson began serving as special assistant to the commanding general at Fort Liberty on June 24.
The Army did not respond to inquiries about what the Senate hold will mean for the two other commands impacted by Donahue’s hold: the XVIII Airborne Corps, where he’s coming from and the Army’s Europe-Africa Command, where he was set to take over.
Terry Welch, spokesperson for U.S. Army Europe-Africa told Task & Purpose that it would be “inappropriate” to comment on pending nominations or Williams’ plans.
“However, commanders are in command until there’s a change of command,” Welch said. “Nothing has changed.”
Williams took over the command on June 29, 2022. He previously commanded the NATO Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey and U.S. Army Africa, in Vicenza, Italy, and served as deputy chief of staff G3/5/7 of the former U.S. Army Europe in Wiesbaden, Germany.
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