American intelligence assessments didn’t foresee such a rapid collapse of the Afghan military, and the U.S. now has a limited ability to aid allies stuck in Kabul, the Pentagon’s top leaders said.
“There are not reports that I am aware of that predicted a security force of 300,000 would evaporate in 11 days,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday at a news conference alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Pressed on what the U.S. could do to help thousands of Afghan allies seeking to evacuate but unable to get to the airport because of Taliban checkpoints and threats, Austin signaled that the U.S. is largely dependent on negotiating with the militant group to let people with the right credentials get through.
“I don’t have a capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul. We do not have the capability to go out and collect large numbers of people,” Austin said. “We will continue to coordinate, de-conflict with the Taliban and make sure that those people that need to get to the airfield have the right credentials to ensure passage” through checkpoints.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday defended his decision to withdraw all U.S. combat forces, saying in an interview with ABC News that the turmoil that followed was unavoidable.
“The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,” Biden said.
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