An admiral for the US navy claimed “high-profile” requests, including one from first lady Jill Bidencaused 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 .”
Vasley’s remarks, mood from a late September interview, came in a story by the Washington Postwhich 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.
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“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.
