Pentagon chief defends execution of final airlift from Kabul

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his archetypal legislature grounds connected the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin connected Tuesday defended the military’s execution of a frantic airlift from Kabul and asserted it volition beryllium “difficult but perfectly possible” to incorporate aboriginal threats from Afghanistan without troops connected the ground.

Speaking alongside Gen. Mark Milley, president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Austin besides questioned decisions made implicit the 20-year people of the U.S. warfare successful Afghanistan. In retrospect, helium said, the American authorities whitethorn person enactment excessively overmuch religion successful its quality to physique a viable Afghan government.

“We helped physique a state, but we could not forge a nation,” helium told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The information that the Afghan service we and our partners trained simply melted distant – successful galore cases without firing a changeable – took america each by surprise. It would beryllium dishonest to assertion otherwise.”

Austin acknowledged shortcomings successful the last airlift from Hamid Karzai International Airport that began Aug. 14, specified arsenic an archetypal question of unit astatine and adjacent the airfield that led to aggregate deaths of Afghan civilians. But helium asserted that the airlift was a historical accomplishment that removed 124,000 radical from Taliban rule.

“To beryllium clear, those archetypal 2 days were difficult,” said Austin, who is simply a seasoned of the war. “We each watched with alarm the images of Afghans rushing the runway and our aircraft. We each retrieve the scenes of disorder extracurricular the airport. But wrong 48 hours, our troops restored order, and process began to instrumentality hold.”

The Biden medication faces disapproval connected aggregate fronts for its handling of the last months of the war.

Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking Republican connected the Armed Services panel, told Austin and Milley that the withdrawal and evacuation amounted to an “avoidable disaster.”

Republicans successful peculiar person intensified their attacks connected President Joe Biden’s determination to propulsion each troops retired of Afghanistan by Aug. 30, saying it near the U.S. much susceptible to terrorism. They are demanding much details connected the termination bombing successful Kabul that killed 13 American work members successful the last days of the withdrawal.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, who arsenic caput of Central Command oversaw the withdrawal, testified alongside Austin and Milley.

Inhofe has peppered the Pentagon with a lengthy database of questions astir aggregate aspects of the withdrawal, including the termination bombing connected Aug. 26 astatine Kabul’s planetary airdrome that killed immoderate 169 Afghans successful summation to the American work members. He besides is demanding accusation astir determination making implicit the summertime arsenic it became evident that the Taliban were overwhelming U.S.-backed Afghan forces.

“We request a afloat accounting of each origin and determination that led america to wherever we are contiguous and a existent program for defending America moving forward,” Inhofe wrote past week.

The withdrawal ended the longest warfare successful U.S. history. The Biden administration, and immoderate Democrats successful Congress, person argued that erstwhile President Donald Trump bears immoderate of the blasted for the warfare ending successful a Taliban victory, since his medication signed a woody with the Taliban successful 2020 that promised a afloat American withdrawal by May 2021. They besides person pointed to a yearslong U.S. nonaccomplishment to physique an Afghan subject that could basal up to the Taliban.

“This is not a Democratic oregon a Republican problem. These failures person been manifesting implicit 4 statesmanlike administrations of some governmental parties,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I, said the time aft the Taliban took implicit Kabul connected Aug. 15.

Although Tuesday’s proceeding was scheduled to absorption connected Afghanistan, different topics were definite to travel up, including Milley’s actions during the last months of Trump’s presidency.

Some successful Congress person accused Milley of disloyalty for what the publication “Peril,” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, reported arsenic assurances to a Chinese wide that the U.S. had nary program to onslaught China, and that if it did, Milley would pass him successful advance. In the days pursuing quality accounts of the book’s reporting, Milley declined to remark successful detail, alternatively telling reporters that helium would laic retired his answers straight to Congress. His lone comments person been that the calls with the Chinese were regular and wrong the duties and responsibilities of his job.

Both Milley and Austin person defended the U.S. military’s execution of an Afghanistan withdrawal that Biden ordered successful April. The pullout was mostly completed by aboriginal July, but respective 100 troops were kept successful Kabul, on with immoderate antiaircraft equipment, to support a U.S. diplomatic beingness successful the capital. The State Department initially said the diplomats would stay aft the subject withdrawal was completed by Aug. 31, but erstwhile the Afghan forces collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, leaving the Taliban successful charge, a frantic evacuation began.

The Pentagon has defended its execution of an airlift from Kabul airdrome that transported much than 120,000 people, portion acknowledging that it got disconnected to a chaotic commencement and was nether near-constant menace of violent attack.

“The Biden administration’s avalanche of incompetence has damaged our planetary estimation and humiliated the United States connected the satellite stage,” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, some Republicans, wrote successful the Des Moines Register. “Yet, our president and caput of authorities proceed to unreal that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a historical success.”

Cotton and others person questioned the viability of U.S. plans to incorporate al-Qaida and the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate by utilizing intelligence-collection assets and onslaught planes based extracurricular of Afghanistan.