Top U.S. Army Commander In Europe To Retire After Pentagon Shakeup
The Pentagon is losing another senior military leader as Gen. Christopher Donahue prepares to retire from the Army after leading U.S. Army forces in Europe and Africa.
Donahue, who also serves as commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, will step down July 2 after approximately 18 months in the role, Fox News confirmed.
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The Army said Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, Donahue’s deputy, will assume command responsibilities following his departure.
According to Fox News, Donahue submitted his retirement paperwork at the request of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
His departure makes him the latest senior military leader to leave the Pentagon as Hegseth continues an effort to reduce the number of top-ranking officers while shifting additional resources toward enlisted service members.
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“The Army thanks Gen. Donahue for his leadership of U.S. Army Europe and Africa,” the Army said in a statement.
Donahue is widely recognized as the final American service member to leave Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021.
A widely circulated night-vision photograph captured him boarding a C-17 transport aircraft moments before the final American departure from Hamid Karzai International Airport.
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At the time, Donahue commanded the 82nd Airborne Division and oversaw security operations at the airport during the evacuation.
The ISIS-K suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, which killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians, occurred in an area secured by Marine forces rather than troops under Donahue’s direct command.
Although the Biden administration faced intense criticism over the withdrawal, Donahue received bipartisan praise for overseeing an evacuation that airlifted approximately 124,000 people from Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized former President Joe Biden’s handling of the withdrawal.
In May, Hegseth ordered a new review of the Afghanistan evacuation despite previous investigations conducted by the Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, the State Department and Congress.
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Donahue built much of his career in Army special operations.
He commanded Delta Force units in both Iraq and Afghanistan before taking command of the 82nd Airborne Division from July 2020 through March 2022.
President Biden nominated Donahue to lead U.S. Army Europe and Africa in December 2024.
During his tenure in Europe, Donahue helped coordinate military assistance to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.
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Officials told Fox News that his work supporting Ukraine made him one of the Army’s foremost experts on drone warfare.
Within military circles, Donahue was widely viewed as one of the Army’s most experienced combat commanders and was considered a potential future chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to The Associated Press.
His retirement comes as Army leaders reportedly consider reducing U.S. Army Europe and Africa from a four-star command to a three-star command.
The move also follows Hegseth’s announcement last week that the Pentagon will conduct a six-month review of America’s military posture across Europe.
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“This will be a real review,” Hegseth said during a meeting with NATO officials in Brussels.
“It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe.”
“It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors,” he added.
Neither the Pentagon nor the Army immediately commented beyond the Army’s statement acknowledging Donahue’s service.
The Atlantic first reported Donahue’s planned departure, Fox News reported.
BUCKLE UP — NIKKI HALEY DROPS STUNNING BOMBSHELL AFTER LINDSEY GRAHAM’S DEATH
SHE SAID NO TO THE SENATE. SHE SAID NO TO 2028. SO WHAT THE HELL IS NIKKI HALEY DOING?
The seat was hers. Everyone knew it. Every Republican operative in South Carolina knew it. Every cable news anchor who spent the weekend after Lindsey Graham's death scrolling through shortlists knew it. The former governor. The former UN Ambassador. The woman who stood toe-to-toe with Donald Trump longer than any other Republican in 2024 and walked away with her reputation not just intact but enhanced.
When Graham's Senate seat opened up on July 11 — suddenly, shockingly, a 71-year-old man dead of a torn aorta less than 24 hours after stepping off a plane from a war zone — Nikki Haley's phone started ringing before the coroner's van left Capitol Hill.
She let it ring. And then she said something that nobody in Washington expected: no.
Not "let me think about it." Not "I'm consulting with my family." Not the carefully choreographed dance of reluctance that ambitious politicians perform when they want to be begged. Just no. Through a spokesperson. In a single sentence. One day after Graham's death. Door closed. Discussion over.
"While she has been blessed to serve her state and country as Governor, UN Ambassador, and as a candidate for President, she has no plans to run for office at this time."
At this time. Those four words are doing more work than the rest of the sentence combined. Because "at this time" is the phrase politicians use when they want to close a door without locking it — when they want the world to hear "no" while leaving themselves the key to come back whenever they're ready.
But here's what makes Haley's "no" genuinely extraordinary — what separates it from every other carefully hedged political non-answer in the history of carefully hedged political non-answers: she's already said the same thing about 2028.
Back in April, sitting across from Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union," Haley was asked directly whether she'd run for president in 2028. Her answer was two words: "I will not." Not "I'm not planning to." Not "it's too early to say." "I will not."
No to the Senate. No to 2028. No to every obvious next step that a politician with her profile, her fundraising network, her name recognition, and her ambition would normally be sprinting toward.
Which leaves exactly one question — the question that has Republican strategists, Trump allies, and South Carolina political insiders absolutely consumed right now: if Nikki Haley doesn't want the Senate, and she doesn't want the presidency, then what does she want?
The answer might be simpler than anyone in Washington is willing to accept. Or it might be the most calculated political play of the decade. And the difference between those two possibilities is the story that nobody has figured out yet.
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But before we get there, you need to understand what happened in the 48 hours after Haley said no — because the scramble to fill Graham's seat without her turned into a circus that tells you everything about the state of the Republican Party right now. And one detail that emerged during that scramble has people across South Carolina asking a question they never expected to ask.
👉 CONTINUE READING — PAGE 2
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