![]() ![]() I don’t think anybody anticipated that.Ībout a third of the “300,000 troops” includes members of the Afghan National Police, which is responsible for civil policing, including such tasks as enforcing curfews, according to Defense Department documents. 18: The idea that the Taliban would take over was premised on the notion that the - that somehow, the 300,000 troops we had trained and equipped was gonna just collapse, they were gonna give up. 16 - the president has overstated the size of the Afghan military.īiden, Aug. 18 interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and his address to the nation on Aug. On more than one occasion - including in his Aug. ![]() sanctions monitors reported that al Qaeda “is resident in at least 15 Afghan provinces, primarily in the east, southern and south-eastern regions,” but “has minimized overt communications with Taliban leadership in an effort to ‘lay low’ and not jeopardize the Taliban’s” agreement with the United States. In a report released that same month, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Services said, “Al Qaeda (AQ) is still assessed to have a presence in Afghanistan and its decades-long ties with the Taliban appear to have remained strong in recent years.” ![]() “But, right now, I’d say medium and in about two years or so.” “If there was a collapse of the government or disillusion of the Afghan security force, that risk would obviously increase,” he said. Milley said the risk would be even higher if the Afghanistan government collapsed. “I would also say, senator, that it would take possibly two years for them to develop that capability.” “I would assess it as medium,” Austin said. and its allies - using a scale of small, medium or large. Lindsey Graham asked Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley to “rate the likelihood of international terrorist organizations like al Qaeda and ISIS regenerating inside of Afghanistan” and posing a threat to the U.S. McKenzie, in a June interview with the Military Times, said that “left unmolested are certainly going to rebuild, restrengthen themselves, and we have no reason to doubt they…want to attack us in our homeland.”Īt a Senate hearing on June 17, Sen. 17, the IG’s office said “it was unclear whether the Taliban was in compliance with the agreement, as members of al-Qaeda were integrated into the Taliban’s leadership and command structure.” Central Command (USCENTCOM), said in June that the conditions for a full withdrawal, including a significant reduction in violence and a guarantee not to harbor al-Qaeda, had not yet been met.” The report went on to say, “General Kenneth F. officials reported that the Taliban continued to support al-Qaeda, and conducted joint attacks with al-Qaeda members against Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.” “The Taliban did not appear to uphold its commitment to distance itself from terrorist organizations in Afghanistan,” the report said. The report noted that in the pact the Taliban “agreed to participate in negotiations with the Afghan government and ‘not allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.'” Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images. In the East Room of the White House, President Biden answers questions about the ongoing U.S. 16, when he has said the terrorist group has been “degraded.”Īs we wrote earlier this week, the lead inspector general for the Defense Department wrote in a quarterly report to Congress that covered activity in Afghanistan from April 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020, that the Taliban and al-Qaeda have been conducting “joint attacks” in Afghanistan in apparent violation of the February 2020 withdrawal agreement with the United States. The president has gotten it right on other occasions, including in his remarks to the nation on Aug. “What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?” he asked.īut al Qaeda is not “gone” from Afghanistan. 20 press conference, Biden questioned why the U.S. Here we look at some of the president’s remarks and how they square with the facts - as we know them at this point. ![]() withdrawal that preceded the swift fall of the Afghan government. 15, President Joe Biden has delivered speeches and given interviews to defend his administration’s handling of the U.S. Since the Taliban seized control of the Afghanistan capital Kabul on Aug. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |