A Pentagon spokesperson on Wednesday, 18 August, stated that the rapid advance of the Taliban to topple the Afghanistan government within a short span of time could not have been foreseen.
“There was nothing that I, or anyone else, saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days," United States Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
The US military, which recently withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years since the US invaded the country, has received widespread censure for its retreat ordered by the Joe Biden administration. Critics have argued that the untimely removal of the US army by the government led to the country falling into the hands of Taliban, leaving the Afghans to fend for themselves.
“The Afghan security forces had the capacity, and by that I mean they had the training, the size, the capability, to defend their country. This comes down to an issue of will and leadership," the US top general said in defence of the US army, AFP reported.
What President Biden Had Said
US President Joe Biden had similarly defended his administration's decision on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In his first address since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, Biden, on Monday, 16 August, had said that he "squarely stood by his decision."
Biden said that the events of the Taliban taking over unfolded more quickly than his office anticipated because Afghan leaders "gave up and fled the country."
Describing the visuals emerging from Afghanistan as "gut wrenching", Biden said that he is “deeply saddened by the facts we now face" but did not regret his decision.
Meanwhile, journalists, writers, and activists in the US censured the Biden administration for propelling a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and failing to acknowledge it.
The Taliban, which had till recently been restrained to the Afghan countryside, took over several cities in rapid succession after the withdrawal of a majority of the US troops from the country in May. It then captured control of Afghanistan on Sunday, 15 August, after former President Ashraf Ghani fled the presidential palace in Kabul.
(With inputs from AFP.)
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