WASHINGTON, 23 April, 2021 (TON): The request to deploy an aircraft carrier was sent to the desk of Pentagon Chief Lloyd J. Austin, who is expected to decide soon, said the U.S. military officials.

The media reported, "The request has been made by Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of Central Command, military officials said, who asked for 24-hour support from a carrier, with its attendant fighter squadrons, and it is being viewed as a specific reference to the Eisenhower, which left its home port in Virginia in February and headed to the Mediterranean Sea."

The Pentagon describes such a move as a “military retrograde operation” to protect troops as they leave an area.

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the media aboard his airplane last week, just after President Joe Biden announced the Afghanistan withdrawal that “It’s not over yet.”

“We have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure we get out in a good and orderly fashion, protect the force and continue defending America,” he said. 

“We’re going to protect the force,” Milley said.

“We have a change of mission. Our mission is to conduct a retrograde while protecting the force, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

However, the U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new counterterrorism approve to Afghanistan that the United States will withdraw its remaining 2,500 troops from Afghanistan by 11 September this year.