Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, tried Wednesday to deflect criticism that the Biden administration should have anticipated the rapid collapse of the Afghan Security Forces and the swift takeover of the country by the Taliban.
“There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days,” Milley told reporters during a briefing at the Pentagon.
Milley’s comments come amid growing calls among lawmakers of both parties for investigations into the administration’s rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan, leading to scenes of chaos at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
President Joe Biden ordered 7,000 troops sent back into Kabul to help secure the airport and evacuate the American embassy, and many Afghans flooded the airport in a last-ditch effort to flee the Taliban.
Intelligence assessments suggested three likely outcomes following the drawdown of U.S. troops, said Milley, who served as a top commander in Afghanistan. One was a civil war, another was a negotiated settlement about how to share power, and the third was “an outright Taliban takeover,” he said.
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