Pentagon leaders testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday on the Afghanistan withdrawal, and two top generals said they thought the US should not have left the country.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said he believed the US should have kept 2,500 troops in Afghanistan to prevent a collapse of the US-backed government, although he did not say what advice he gave directly to President Biden.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, agreed with Milley and said back in the Fall of 2020, he recommended to the Trump administration that the US should have left 4,500 troops in Afghanistan.
When President Biden came into office in January, there were only 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan. The US was only able to keep this small number of forces in the country because the Taliban was not attacking foreign troops under the Doha agreement that was signed in February 2020.
Biden has repeatedly justified his decision to withdraw by pointing out that if the US stayed, the Taliban would start attacking again, and the US would need to deploy thousands of more troops to fight them.
When asked about what Milley and McKenzie said, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said if 2,500 troops stayed past the August 31st withdrawal deadline, “We would be at war with the Taliban.” The president did take a risk by pushing back the original May 1st withdrawal deadline, but the Taliban accepted the new date and still refrained from attacking.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also testified on Tuesday and said how quickly the US-backed government collapsed came as a surprise. “The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away, in many cases without firing a shot, took us all by surprise. It would be dishonest to claim otherwise,” he said.
Both Milley and McKenzie hyped the threat of groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS-K in Afghanistan. Milley said the Taliban is still a “terrorist” organization and conflated them with al-Qaeda, ignoring the history of the war in Afghanistan.
In 2001, the Taliban offered to hand over Osama bin Laden to the Bush administration multiple times. Before the September 11th attacks, the Taliban even offered the US to put bin Laden on trial. Now that the Taliban have control of virtually all of Afghanistan, the group has even more of an interest in keeping al-Qaeda and ISIS at bay to prevent more US intervention in the country.
I was wondering when the “I told you so” crowd would chime in. No, you said the Afghan Army could handle itself, and you gave them billions of dollars’ worth of equipment and training. Too bad that while you were telling us the ANA was good to go, your own people were telling *you* they weren’t ready and they’d be rickrolled in a pitched fight. But no, they HAD to be ready on your reports, so you could justify the expense account. So, generals, what did the Afghan war cost *you*- I mean other than your self-respect?
Sad, but expected: you get the officer corps your mission demands. When your mission is actual war fighting, your get your Lees, Grants, Pattons, etc.. But when your actual mission is war as a long term business enterprise and the care and health and welfare of the MICIMATT, you get business people with medals … crooked businesspeople with medals.
And, if they were surprised at the ease with which the Taliban rolled over our “allies”, dumber than a pile of lint.
No lie, Holmes. I had been predicting that the ANA would fold as soon as the last American airplane left the runway.
I was wrong and I apologize if my words misled anyone. The ANA and Afghan puppet government didn’t even survive that long.
So now maybe Biden will change his mind about Milley. Say he was indeed insubordinate and fire his ass.
“Well, they would, wouldn’t they”!!!!!
They should have listened to what Jahadi Colin commenter here had to say. Going to war against the Afghans is a lose lose lose endeavor. They are motivated, strong, brave and just won’t allow any hothead invader to get away unscsthed. I would say the same for Russia. They too are adverse to being pushed around. I predicted on the first day of the last two invasions that they would fail in their objectives and take a terrible beating. I was a big fan of William S Lind who also predicted from virtually day one of the ultimate failure of the invasion. I don’t know why Lind no longer sends his great stuff here to aw.c- but I wish he wa’s still on the team here.
Did they also make recommendations on “then what?” If not they are useless aides to our President and ought to be sacked.
Reading the headline is like reading “NEWSFLASH! WATER is….WET!”
No lie the generals never wanted to leave. And of course, they slow-played the withdrawal, in hopes that it could be delayed, if possible, indefinitely.
Of course they did. Their employers of the future (or past, or, whatever, thanks to the revolving door) were not happy. They could care less about the Afghan civilians who had died in the 20 years we were there “nation-building”.
Officers with a shred of self respect left years ago.
Of course they wanted to stay— the minute they left, they knew reality would pull back the curtain on the 20 year old deception.
Staying would have just maintained the farce til the next generation of career criminals
I didn’t oppose it.
“In 2001, the Taliban offered to hand over Osama bin Laden to the Bush administration multiple times. Before the September 11th attacks, the Taliban even offered the US to put bin Laden on trial.”
Not sure this is true. I think I read that the Taliban would turn over bin Laden if the U.S. provided proof to them that bin Laden was behind 9/11, and the U.S. offered up no proof.
Offered for comment and not necessarily for truth:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2004/11/01/how-bush-was-offered-bin-laden-and-blew-it/
Interesting. Will we ever find out the truth in our lifetimes?
Doubtful, as long as the facts remain an ideological football.