Washington: Top military officials of the United States, while testifying before a high-level Senate committee on September 28, revealed that they had recommended US president Joe Biden to keep some 2,500 American troops standing by on the ground in Afghanistan.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said during a Senate hearing that it is a “strategic failure” with the Taliban back in power and US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Milley, alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Central Command head Gen Kenneth McKenzie, testified for the first time before Congress since the United States ended its longest war in Afghanistan, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Strategically, the war is lost, the enemy is in Kabul. So you have a strategic failure while you simultaneously have an operational and tactical success,” Milley said, referring to the massive personnel evacuation since mid-August.
Milley and McKenzie said they believed the US should maintain 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, and a quick drawdown from the country could lead to a collapse of the Afghan government and military.
Such comments seemed to contradict President Joe Biden’s words in an interview last month, in which he said no military officials advised him to keep troops in Afghanistan after the withdrawal deadline.
Meanwhile, Milley and Pentagon chief Austin stressed that the sudden collapse of the Afghan military was beyond their expectation.
He also raised terrorism threats that could potentially emerge from Afghanistan in the near future.
The US military completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30 under Biden’s order, ending 20 years of occupation. The hasty and chaotic evacuations drew fierce criticism from both home and abroad.
Taliban executes child after father suspected of being ARF member
Kabul: The Taliban brutally executed a child in Takhar province of Afghanistan after his father is suspected to be a part of the Afghan Resistance Forces (ARF).
The brutality has been reported by Panjshir Observer which is an independent media covering Panjshir and Afghanistan situation.
“Child executed in Takhar province by Taliban fighters after his father is suspected of being in the Resistance. #WarCrimes #Afghanistan,” Panjshir Observer said in a tweet.
