The Army's commander of its forces in Europe and Africa, General Christopher Donahue, who was famously the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan in 2021, is unexpectedly stepping down from his post after just 18 months in the job. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and commander of NATO's Allied Land Command, will relinquish his command on July 2, according to an Army statement. He is the latest in a line of nearly two dozen top military leaders to either retire or depart their jobs early under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has undertaken an effort to thin the ranks of the military's top brass with the mantra "less generals, more GIs."
Donahue's deputy, Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, will perform his duties in the meantime. A West Point graduate and a career special operations commander, Donahue commanded Delta Force units in Iraq and Afghanistan before leading the 82nd Airborne division from July 2020 to March 2022.
It was during that period that he oversaw security at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. On Aug. 30, 2021, Donahue became the last U.S. soldier to depart the country after nearly 20 years of war sparked by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The moment was documented in an iconic photo taken through night vision goggles.
Hegseth and President Donald Trump have made the chaotic withdrawal a regular political punching bag and the subject of a new Pentagon review. Last May, Hegseth ordered a new examination of the withdrawal despite multiple previous reviews by the Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, the State Department and Congress.