(TheRedWire.com) – During the 2021 chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the top U.S. general had warned both the Trump and Biden administration that the security situation in Afghanistan would quickly turn bad if they withdrew their troops.
Former U.S. Forces Afghanistan commander and retired Army Gen. Austin Scott Miller claimed that he had previously informed both administrations that reducing the presence of U.S. troops in the area to zero would quickly backfire and that the Taliban would be in a position to potentially overrun the U.S.-backed Afghan Security Forces. On Monday, an interview that Miller delivered on April 15 to the House Foreign Affairs Committee was released.
During the closed-door interview, Miller testified that in his opinion things would go swiftly badly if they withdrew from the country. He added that he recommends that the United States continues to have a force of at least 2,500 people on the ground that would be located in Kabul and Bagram Airfield bases. The latter used to be the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan but had been abandoned in July 2021, one month before Kabul fell to the hands of the U.S.
Miller stated that he had recommended that the United States continue having a footprint in the area and that they needed to leave something behind to keep the Afghan Security forces and Air Forces fighting. He further pointed out that his recommendation had at no point changed and that it had remained consistent throughout his time in service.
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