The State Department delayed the start of the non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) aimed at rescuing U.S. citizens and Afghan allies seeking to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover last month, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated Tuesday…

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Citing news reports, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) noted the military wanted to begin evacuations earlier, but the State Department intervened, delaying the NEO.

Asked by Hawley to comment on the accuracy of the reports, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “We provided input to try to get out as many Afghans who have helped us…as early as possible. But…the State Department…made its decisions.”

Ordering the NEO falls under the purview of the State Department.

Amb. Ross Wilson, the top American diplomat in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal, reportedly delayed issuing the NEO order even after the Pentagon again pushed for the authorization as the Taliban closed in…

Ultimately, Amb. Wilson issued the order two days after Defense Secretary…asked for it, Gen. Milley…noted…

Austin told lawmakers that the Pentagon had been ready to evacuate civilians months before the State Department issued the NEO order.

Military officials had already come up with evacuation plans “by late April,” two weeks after Biden announced the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops, the Pentagon chief testified.

Amb. Wilson authorized the evacuation operation a day before the Taliban’s…[declaring] victory on August 15.

Milley stressed that the 2,500 U.S. troops nearly wholly withdrawn from Afghanistan when the Taliban took control of the government would not have been able to carry out the NEO because they were advisers…

Milley noted that his fellow witness at the hearing, Gen. Frank McKenzie…developed the plans to carry out the NEO, but the military had to wait for Amb. Wilson to call for the evacuation to execute its strategy.

Gen. Milley declared:

There was a plan for a rapid collapse, and that was the NEO plan that Gen. McKenzie had come up with, and that was executed. That’s why those 6,000 troops [that helped evacuate Americans and Afghan allies] could deploy as rapidly as they did…

Echoing other Biden administration officials, Milley indicated that the rapid collapse of Afghanistan took the U.S. by surprise…

Gen. Milley repudiated President Biden’s assertions that “no one” warned him of the potential Taliban takeover. He also refuted Biden’s allegation that top generals…did not recommend that he leave behind a residual force in Afghanistan after the withdrawal deadline.

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(Excerpt from Breitbart News. Article by Edwin Mora. Photo Credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images).