US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin advised Congress on Tuesday that the sudden collapse of the Afghan navy has put the Pentagon on maintain as he admitted miscalculations, together with corruption in America’s longest struggle and damaging morale in Afghan ranks.
Austin advised the Senate Armed Services Committee, “The fact that the Afghan army we trained and our allies thawed easily — in many cases without firing a shot — took us all by surprise.”
“It would be dishonest to claim otherwise.”
Austin was talking early two days in what is anticipated to be a few of the most controversial hearings in reminiscence over the chaotic finish of the struggle in Afghanistan that took the lives of American troopers and civilians and left the Taliban again in energy.
Senate and House committees overseeing the US navy are listening to Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, and Republicans zero in on what they see as errors made by President Joe Biden’s administration on the finish of the two-decade-old struggle. are anticipated to be.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks throughout a Senate Armed Services Committee listening to on the conclusion of navy operations in Afghanistan and planning for future counter-terrorism operations on Capitol Hill in Washington, US September 28, 2021. (Reuters)
The listening to follows comparable inquiries two weeks in the past, through which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the administration, even because it confronted requires its resignation.
Biden’s dealing with of the dramatic lack of the struggle in Afghanistan and its turbulent return by the US, elevating questions on his judgment and overseas coverage experience, has confronted Biden’s greatest disaster of his presidency.
Senator James Inhofe, the highest Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, instantly blamed the Biden administration. Inhofe mentioned Biden ignored the suggestions of his navy leaders and left many Americans behind after the US withdrawal.
“We all saw the horror of the president’s own creation,” Inhofe mentioned.
A US Army Chinook helicopter takes off over Kabul, Afghanistan on May 2, 2021. (The New York Times: Jim Hulebrock)
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Mark Milley, testified that he didn’t anticipate the tempo of the Taliban takeover. But he heeded the military’s warnings from late 2020 {that a} fast withdrawal – tied with none circumstances – may result in the collapse of the Afghan military and authorities.
“That was a year ago. My assessments remained consistent throughout,” Miley mentioned.
Drone Strike, Suicide Bombing
Austin praised American personnel who helped drive 124,000 Afghans in another country, an operation that killed 13 American troopers and a number of other Afghans in a suicide bombing exterior Kabul airport.
“Was it perfect? Not at all,” Austin mentioned, noting the determined Afghans killed attempting to board a US navy airplane and civilians killed within the final US drone strike of the struggle.
Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo airplane at Kabul airport because the final US service member to depart Afghanistan. (AP)
Milley mentioned the Taliban “remains a terrorist organization” that has not damaged ties with al Qaeda. He warned {that a} reorganized al Qaeda in Afghanistan with aspirations to assault the United States was “a very real possibility” – maybe in as little as a yr.
The warning is more likely to upset Republican lawmakers, who doubt the power of the Pentagon to regulate al Qaeda and Islamic State threats, and act rapidly on any info.
However, Austin defended the plans of the Biden administration to handle future counter-terrorism threats from teams reminiscent of al Qaeda and Islamic State by flying drones or commandos from abroad.
“Over-the-horizon operations are difficult but absolutely doable. And the intelligence that supports them comes from a variety of sources, not just those landing on American soil,” Austin mentioned.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
