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Over the past few days, the US Senate Armed Services Committee has held hearings on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Capitol Hill. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, along with General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Frank McKenzie of US Central Command assessed the Senate on the behind-the-scenes decisions during their first public testimony at the Congress since the victory of the Taliban. the war in August.
Here are the highlights:
Afghanistan collapse stems from 2020 deal with Taliban, US general says
Senior Pentagon officials, the collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces in August could be attributed to the 2020 Doha deal with the Taliban that promised a complete withdrawal of US troops.
General McKenzie said that once the US troop presence was reduced below 2,500 as part of President Joe Biden’s decision in April to complete a full withdrawal by September, the dismantling of the government Afghan backed by the United States has accelerated. “The signing of the Doha deal had a really pernicious effect on the Afghan government and its military – psychological more than anything else, but we set a specific date for when we were going to leave and when they could go. “wait until all help is sent. end,” McKenzie said.
Military commanders wanted to keep at least 2,500 troops in Afghanistan
One of the most important testimonies came from military generals who told lawmakers they recommended having 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, which Biden disagreed with. The White House defended the presidential decision, however, acknowledging that it was a shared recommendation from Biden’s advisers and generals.
“I will not share my personal recommendation to the President, but I will give you my honest opinion, and my honest opinion and perspective has shaped my recommendation. I recommended that we keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. And I also recommended earlier in fall 2020 that we maintain 4,500 at that time. These are my personal opinions, ”General Frank McKenzie told senators. In an interview in August, Biden denied that his commanders recommended him, saying, “No. No one told me what I remember.
The collapse of the Afghan army “took us all by surprise”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress the sudden collapse of the Afghan military took the Pentagon “by surprise” as military leaders faced controversial Senate hearing on how and why America had lost his longest war.
“The fact that the Afghan army that we and our partners formed simply melted away – in many cases without firing a shot – took us all by surprise,” said Austin, a former four-star general. who served in Afghanistan on the Senate Armed Forces Committee. . “It would be dishonest to pretend otherwise.
Asked why the United States did not foresee the rapid collapse of the Afghan army, General Milley said that in his opinion the United States military had lost its ability to see and understand the a real condition for the Afghan forces when they ended the practice a few years ago of having advisers alongside the Afghans on the battlefield. “You can’t measure the human heart with a machine, you have to be there,” Milley said.
Pakistan and ISI’s ties to the Taliban are confidential information
The defense secretary and the two main generals told senators that Pakistan’s ties to the Taliban and its spy agency ISI can only be discussed behind closed doors. In the public domain, they can only say that the relationship between the two will become more and more complex after the withdrawal.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations, on Capitol Hill in Washington, United States, on 28 September 2021. Patrick Semansky / Pool via REUTERS
“An in-depth conversation about Pakistan would probably be better suited in a closed-door hearing here,” Austin told committee members when senators asked pointed questions about recent Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) reporting, Pakistan’s intelligence wing. the army and its ties to the Taliban. Generals Milley and McKenzie said the same thing.
The war in Afghanistan was a “strategic failure”, says military officer
General Milley called the 20-year war in Afghanistan a “strategic failure”.
“The results of a war like this, an outcome that is a strategic failure – the enemy is in command in Kabul, there is no other way to describe it – it is a cumulative effect of 20 years “he said, adding that lessons must be learned, including whether the US military has made Afghans too dependent on US technology in a mistaken effort to make the Afghan army look like the military. American.
On future threats and al-Qaeda
General Milley acknowledged the possibility of future threats to the United States from reconstituted Al Qaeda or Afghan ISIL. There is a “very real possibility” that Al-Qaida or the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State group will reconstitute itself in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime and pose a terrorist threat to the United States within the next 12 to 36 months.
It was al-Qaida’s use of Afghanistan as a base from which to plan and execute its attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 that sparked the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan a month later. . Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who took over after the murder of Osama bin Laden, appeared in a new video marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, months after rumors spread. were propagated that he was dead.
Screenshot of a video showing al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in an unknown location, in a videotape released in September 2006. (AP)
“And we have to remember that the Taliban was and remains a terrorist organization and that they still have not severed ties with al-Qaida,” Milley said. “I have no illusions who we are dealing with. It remains to be seen whether or not the Taliban will be able to consolidate their power or whether the country will descend into civil war again. “
Defense Secretary Austin said it would be “difficult but absolutely possible” to contain future Afghan threats without troops on the ground.
Milley defends calls for Chinese to end Trump presidency
General Milley also reacted to criticism following reports that he called on General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army to assure him that the United States was not suddenly going to war or attack China. . In a vehement defense of two appeals he made to his Chinese counterpart, Milley said he was responding to a “significant degree of intelligence” that China was concerned about a US attack.
“I know, I’m sure, President Trump had no intention of attacking the Chinese and it is my direct responsibility … to convey that intention to the Chinese,” Gen. Mark Milley said as calls for his Chinese counterpart were routine. https://t.co/utdRqW8IK7 pic.twitter.com/ISWS14pFIU
– ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 28, 2021
“I know, I’m sure, that President Trump had no intention of attacking the Chinese. … And it was my responsibility led by the secretary to convey that intention to the Chinese, ”Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “My task at the time was to defuse. My message was once again consistent: stay calm, steady and defuse yourself. We are not going to attack you.
Details of the calls were first broadcast in excerpts from the recently published book “Peril” by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
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