Pentagon: Central Asian countries interested in ties with U.S. after fall of Afghanistan
In a statement that contradicts US President Joe Biden, top Pentagon officials have announced that they have recommended to the White House to maintain a limited military presence in Afghanistan. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, CENTCOM commander Kenneth McKenzie said he advised Biden to keep 2.5,000 troops in Afghanistan, warning that a full withdrawal of U.S. forces "would lead to the collapse of the Afghan government and its forces."
McKenzie noted that he had previously made a similar recommendation to former US President Donald Trump in the fall of 2020, and advised the White House at that time to keep at least 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. For his part, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley confirmed that his position since the fall of 2020 was that 2.5,000 troops should remain in Afghanistan with the possibility of increasing this presence to 3.5,000 troops, with the aim of moving towards a "negotiated solution."
He acknowledged that the US has lost the war in Afghanistan, describing the withdrawal of US troops from that country as "a logistical success but a strategic failure."
Secretary of War Lloyd Austin responded positively during the session to a question about whether Biden had received the recommendations.
This came despite Biden and White House officials repeatedly insisting that the president had not received recommendations from any military leaders on maintaining a limited military force in Afghanistan. In response to the statements of senior Pentagon officials, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki quoted Biden on Twitter as telling ABC that "ending the war in Afghanistan" was in the national interest of the United States and that the recommendations were conflicting, but there was a consensus among senior military advisors that keeping 2.5,000 troops would bring escalation, given the deal the Trump administration struck with the Taliban in February 2020.
Source: Asia and Middle East Forum + Russia Today
