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General Petraeus Slams Biden’s ‘Hasty’ Withdrawal From Afghanistan

By • July 19, 2021 1:44 pm

The general who commanded US and allied soldiers in Afghanistan and subsequently served as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), recently criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the pullout of troops from Afghanistan.

David Petraeus appeared on CNN, Sunday, and expressed wary that the US would later regret the ‘hasty’ withdrawal of troops from the country — believed to have the second-highest troop deployment in the Middle East.   

“I fear that we will look back and regret the decision to withdraw,” Petraeus said.

During the interview, the general was asked for his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan right now — with reports claiming that the Taliban controls 85% of the country.

“How likely is it that they will control the entire country?” CNN’s Fareed Zakaria asked Petraeus.

“Increasingly dire” situation in Afghanistan

In response, the retired United States Army general said the situation in Kabul remains volatile as he directed his comment on the government’s recent decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan — saying the US is not “ending” the “endless war” but rather just choosing not to take part in it.

“I’m not sure that they’ll take the entire country but the situation on the ground has become increasingly dire with each passing week. You see them now on the outskirts fighting in some of the outer areas of Kandahar City, arguably the second most important city in all of Afghanistan,” Petraeus said.

“And let me say up front if I could … that no one wants to see endless wars end more than those who have actually served in them, but we are not ending this endless war, we are ending U.S. involvement in it,” he added. “Because we end the involvement of the 3,500 US troops, we’re also seeing over 8,000 NATO troops leave and we’re seeing some 15,000 or so contractors leave as well.”

“They’re critical to maintaining the Afghan Air Force, which is essential to ensure that Afghan soldiers realize that someone is coming to the rescue with additional troops and with close air support. Gradually that air force is already being degraded in its operational readiness. It’s flying at an astronomical tempo in a country that is very vast with very high mountains,” the former US forces commander added.

“I fear that we will look back and regret the decision to withdraw,” he added. “And I think sadly, we may regret that sooner than I had originally thought when I said that right after the decision was announced.”

“Hasty” withdrawal of the Biden admin cited

Petraeus went on with his lament and warned of an impending “civil war” in Afghanistan moving forward —  a possible consequence of US troops leaving its bases in the country.

“Beyond that, I think we will also look back and regret the hasty way in which we seem to be doing this, with no plan yet … But what I see now, sadly, is the onset of what is going to be quite a brutal civil war, considerable ethnic and sectarian displacement, assassination of government officials, millions of refugees flooding into other countries, particularly Pakistan,” he went on.

“We will see the return of al Qaeda and the Islamic State, although I don’t see an immediate domestic security threat for the US in that regard.”

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When asked for his comment on those saying that the US have done enough for Afghanistan after 20 years of being there — and reportedly $2 trillion in costs, so far, Petraeus said American troops are mainly just training and transitioning tasks to the Afghan army.

“We have tried to train the Afghan National Army. We have trained the Afghan police force. We have paid for the entire Afghan government’s budget for 20 years. And yet when Kandahar fell or the parts of it that fell to the Taliban, the Afghan Army did not really fight,” Petraeus said, pointing out that both his son and daughter-in-law served in Afghanistan before.

“We halted the momentum of the Taliban,” he went on. “… We accelerated the training of the Afghan National Security Forces, and we began the process of transitioning tasks slowly from our forces to Afghan forces, and that worked well for a number of years.”

“Look, we aren’t on the front lines anymore,” Petraeus added. So there’s not a great deal, and I guess they could rocket our bases a bit more. But again, what we are doing is enabling the Afghan National Security Forces with advice, assistance, close air support, lots of drones. … We have to recognize, we have to continue to combat the Islamist extremist with a sustained sustainable commitment and that should be the way we go at these. You can’t win them. You can manage them.”

Critics have earlier been voicing caution against President Joe Biden’s earlier announcement of his decision for a full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, noting that the US cannot re-enter once its forces leave the country.

There are those warning that the US may have to return to its longest war zone eventually as the Taliban continues to take ground, defeat US’ allies on the ground and, many fear, that the militia group would position itself to topple the US-backed government in Kabul.

Bush hits Biden on US troops pullout

Former President George W. Bush on Wednesday already hit the announcement of Democrat President Biden of the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from Afghanistan saying the consequences are going to be “unbelievably bad and sad.”

Bush, whose administration launched the US military invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, also warned against the “unspeakable harm” to Afghan women and girls whom he said could suffer at the hands of the Taliban.

“It seems like they’re just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people,” Bush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “And it breaks my heart.”

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Steeve Strange

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