USA Remarks | Collapse of Afghan army "took us all by surprise" - Def Sec Austin in Senate testimony

Why Afghanistan Withdrawal | Collapse of Afghan army "took us all by surprise" | US top military
Mandatory Credit: US Senate Committee on Armed Services
USA: Collapse of Afghan army "took us all by surprise" - Def Sec Austin in Senate testimony
WASHINGTON - US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and United States Central Command’s head General Kenneth McKenzie are set to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Tuesday, September 28.
Top Pentagon officials testified on the subject of US withdrawal from Afghanistan in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington DC on Tuesday.
Lloyd Austin, US Defense Secretary acknowledged the speed with which Afghan armed forces had crumbled in the face of Taliban resurgence had left US armed forces surprised.
"The fact that the Afghan army that we and our partners trained simply melted away in many cases without firing a shot took us all by surprise and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise," said Austin.
SOT, Lloyd Austin, US Defense Secretary: "We helped build the state, Mr. Chairman, but we could not forge a nation. The fact that the Afghan army that we and our partners trained simply melted away in many cases without firing a shot took us all by surprise and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise. We need to consider some uncomfortable truths. That we didn't fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in the senior ranks. That we didn't grasp the damaging effect of frequent and unexplained rotations by President Ghani of his commanders, that we didn't anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that the Taliban commanders struck with local leaders in the wake of the Doha agreement. "
SOT, Lloyd Austin, US Defense Secretary: "We provided the Afghan military with equipment and aircraft and the skills to use them. Over the years, they often fought bravely. Tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police died, but in the end, we couldn't provide them with the will to win, at least not all of them. And as a veteran of that war, I am personally reckoning with all of that. But I hope, as I said at the outset, that we do not allow a debate about how this war ended to cloud our pride. In the way that our people fought it. They prevented another 9/11. They showed extraordinary courage and compassion in the war in the war's last days, and they made lasting progress in Afghanistan that the Taliban will find difficult to reverse and that the international community should work hard to preserve."
SOT, Lloyd Austin, US Defense Secretary: "At the height of this operation, an aircraft was taking off every 45 minutes and not a single sortie was missed for maintenance, fuel or logistical problems. It was the largest air airlift conducted in U.S. history and it was executed in 17 days. Was it perfect? Of course not. We moved so many people so quickly out of Kabul that we ran into capacity and screening problems at intermediate staging bases outside Afghanistan. And we're still working to get Americans out who wish to leave, and we did not get out, all of our Afghan allies enrolled in a special immigrant visa program. We take that seriously, and that's why we're working across the interagency to continue facilitating their departure."
SOT, General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff: "It is clear, it is obvious the war in Afghanistan did not end on the terms we wanted with the Taliban now in power in Kabul (...) as the largest air evacuation in history, evacuating 124,000 people, it came at an incredible cost of 11 Marines, one soldier and a Navy corpsman. Those 13 gave their lives so that people they never met will have an opportunity to live in freedom. And we must remember that the Taliban was and remains a terrorist organization and they still have not broken ties with al-Qaida. I have no illusions who we are dealing with. It remains to be seen whether or not the Taliban can consolidate power or if the country will further fracture into civil war. But we must continue to protect the United States of America and its people from terrorist attacks coming from Afghanistan. A reconstituted al-Qaida or ISIS with aspirations to attack the United States is a very real possibility, and those conditions to include activity in ungoverned spaces could present themselves in the next 12 to 36 months. That mission will be much harder now, but not impossible. And we will continue to protect the American people."
#Afghanistan #USMilitary #Taliban
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