(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – In a crucial blow to President Joe Biden connected with one of his most spectacular failures, a report by a leftist newspaper has revealed that the highest-ranking US military official in Afghanistan explicitly cautioned the Biden administration the country would collapse swiftly after the US troops pulled out.
This planned retreat, executed in 2021, has been widely criticized as a logistical catastrophe, culminating in the loss of lives of both US military personnel and Afghan civilians, The Washington Post reports, cited by The Daily Caller.
Retired General Austin Scott Miller, who served as the top US commander in Afghanistan during that year, expressed to the Biden administration his concerns regarding the security of the region after the withdrawal.
He was particularly apprehensive about the viability of maintaining an embassy with minimal protection, revealing his fears in a confidential testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month.
General Miller shared with legislators that his concerns were so grave that he confidentially alerted a Marine Corps commander, responsible for planning the potential withdrawal, to prepare for “really adverse conditions.”
“I did not foresee a good future for Afghanistan as I was departing,” he declared in a statement to lawmakers in April, according to the Post.
Assuming his role in Afghanistan in 2018, General Miller was privy to the challenges associated with evacuation efforts, which had been initiated under the Trump administration.
By March 2020, he already perceived Afghanistan as “being on fire.”
Initially, the Biden administration intended to repatriate General Miller along with the remaining US forces from the Bagram airbase during the final stages of the withdrawal.
However, plans were altered, and the airbase was evacuated in July 2021. Subsequently, approximately 700 troops remained, tasked with operations between the US embassy and Kabul airport.
During this period, General Miller expressed his concerns for the safety of his personnel stationed in Afghanistan’s Helmand province as evacuation efforts unfolded throughout 2021.
In August 2021, all US troops and embassy staff completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
During this tumultuous time, Afghan civilians swarmed the Kabul airport, desperate to evacuate with the besieged US forces.
Amidst this chaos, an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked on August 26, resulting in the deaths of 13 US troops and approximately 170 Afghan civilians.
In the aftermath, it was disclosed that approximately $7 billion worth of military equipment was left behind in Afghanistan.
Despite these outcomes, the Biden administration has defended the withdrawal as the “correct policy choice.”
“All the evidence is coming back. Do you remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al Qaeda would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban. What’s happening now? What’s going on? Read your press. I was right,” Biden declared in 2023.
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