PNN – 2 American generals have acknowledged the weaknesses and strategic failure of Washington in Afghanistan and named the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Biden government responsible for the chaotic exit from that country.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, quoting E. B. C News, General Mark Milley, the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Frank McKenzie, the former head of the US Middle East Command (CENTCOM), during which the military withdrawal from Afghanistan took place, appeared at the hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives and answered the questions of the legislators.
Milli said: We in the army helped to create an army and a government in Afghanistan after 20 years, but we could not create a nation. The enemy occupied Kabul and the government fell and the army we supported for 2 decades disappeared. It was a strategic failure.
Claiming that despite this failure, good things happened in Afghanistan, he added: The army created hope for the Afghan people for 20 years. We created an unprecedented opportunity for millions of people.
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In August 2021, when the Taliban entered Kabul, the US military and the State Department faced many difficulties in evacuating 124,000 embassy personnel, American citizens and Afghans who were at risk.
Hamed Karzai International Airport in Kabul was the main hub for evacuating these people. In August of the same year, an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up at this airport, killing 13 Americans and at least 170 Afghans.
Asked by U.S. lawmakers whether the cautious exit caused chaos at the airport, Milley said the decision to implement the Noncombatant Exit Operation (NEO) was “made too late.” This operation focused on the withdrawal of civilians and unnecessary military forces.
General McKenzie also confirmed Milli’s statements in the hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives and said that he blamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his country for the late decision to implement this operation.
Stating that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was responsible for this operation, not the Ministry of Defense”, he added: “I believe that the developments in the middle and end of August 2021 were the direct result of the delay of several months in the implementation of this operation.”
By the website of E. B. C News, despite America’s efforts, a number of Americans and Afghans who wanted to leave, could not leave Afghanistan.