In front of Congress, the head of the Pentagon asserted that the collapse of the Afghan army had taken the United States “by surprise”

The highest defense hierarchies in the United States acknowledged on Tuesday that the The Taliban’s rapid takeover in Afghanistan took them “by surprise” and expressed concern that the Islamic regime remains linked to the jihadist al-Qaeda network.

“We helped build a state, but we couldn’t build a nation”, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee son the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the evacuation of civilians.

“The fact that the Afghan army, that we and our partners are training, just faded, in many cases without a single hit, it took us all by surprise“, mentioned. And I add: “It would be dishonest to say otherwise.

The Defense Secretary also said that The United States has provided the Afghan army with “equipment and planes and training to use them”, but “did not fully understand the depth of corruption and the lack of leadership in its upper ranks.”

“Over the years several times they fought bravelyAustin pointed out. “Tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police have been killed. But in the end, we couldn’t give them the will to win. At least not all “.

For his part, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stressed that The United States did not have a “comprehensive assessment of morale and leadership readiness” of the Afghan armed forces.

“We can count all the planes, trucks, vehicles and guns and everything,” Milley said. “But you can’t measure the human heart with a machine.”

The US general also said that the Taliban “was and continues to be a terrorist organization and they have not yet severed their ties with Al Qaeda.” “I have no illusions about who we are dealing with,” he said.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Taliban will be able to consolidate their power. or if the country would fracture into another civil war, ”Milley said. “But we must continue to protect the American people from terrorist attacks emanating from Afghanistan,” he said.

“An al-Qaeda network or a reconstituted ISIS group with aspirations to attack the United States is a very real possibility ”, he warned the senators.

Meanwhile, the Taliban continue to seek recognition from the international community. This Tuesday they called the countries, particularly in the United States, to commit to Afghanistan “on the basis of international covenants, promises and laws and on the basis of mutual respect and commitments in order to avoid negative and unwanted consequences”.

The Islamist government’s claim comes days after Pentagon officials assured that They would not need the Taliban’s permission to conduct counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan via the US Air Force, including drones.

American troops and international forces completed their withdrawal from Afghan soil, abandoning all their bases in the country, on August 30, ending two decades of military presence in the country.

The withdrawal of US and NATO forces is part of the compromise reached between Washington and the Taliban in Doha, and that it led to the coming to power of the fundamentalists.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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