Top American generals have said they recommended keeping several thousand US troops in Afghanistan, contradicting President Joe Biden who said last month that no one suggested he leave military personnel in the country.
“I recommended that we maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. And I also recommended earlier in the fall of 2020 that we will maintain 4,500 of that time, those are my personal views,” said CENTCOM Commander General Frank McKenzie on Tuesday.
“I also had a view that the withdrawal of those forces would lead inevitably to the collapse of the Afghan military forces, and eventually the Afghan government,” McKenzie told a Senate hearing on the Afghanistan withdrawal.
He was flanked by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.
In August, Biden said in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that no military leader advised him to leave a small troop presence in Afghanistan.
“So no one told –– your military advisors did not tell you, ‘No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that”? Stephanopoulos asked Biden on August 18.
“No. No one said that to me that I can recall,” Biden replied at the time.
Milley also said he recommended that 2,500-3,500 troops stay in Afghanistan.
“My assessment was back in the fall of 20 and it remained consistent throughout, we should keep a steady state at 2,500 and it could bounce up to 3,500 Maybe something like that, in order to move toward a negotiated gated solution,” said Milley.
Unexpected power grab
President Biden, in April, ordered a complete pullout of forces from Afghanistan by September 11, following through on an agreement reached with the Taliban by former president Donald Trump to end the US troop presence there.
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan after taking Kabul on August 15 two weeks ahead of US withdrawal, forcing then-president Ashraf Ghani and other top officials to flee the country.
The unexpected power grab triggered a rush to flee Afghanistan, including civilians who assisted foreign soldiers or groups and now fear the Taliban’s retribution.
