Ex-US generals who oversaw Afghan exit describe chaos

Two retired US generals who oversaw the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 have testified to the US Congress about the war's chaotic final days.

Mark Milley, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, and Kenneth McKenzie, who led US Central Command, testified for the first time since retiring.

Lawmakers pressed for more info on who was to blame for the tragic exit.

Republicans held President Joe Biden responsible, while Democrats blamed the Trump administration's Taliban deal.

Neither of the retired generals appeared willing to blame the two leading presidential contenders. Instead, they said that both had a role in the disastrous withdrawal, as did the administrations that preceded them.

The Doha agreement - which former President Donald Trump negotiated with the Taliban - "pulled the rug out, morale wise" of both the Afghan security forces and government, Mr Milley said.

But he also added later that the "fundamental flaw" of the US exit was the timing of the Biden administration's decision to order a civilian evacuation. He said it had come "too slow and too late".

He did emphasise, however, that he had advised top American officials in the Biden administration that the US "needed to maintain a minimum force of 2,500 troops on the ground" in order to prevent the Taliban from seizing control.

"Without this support, it was my view at the time, that it was a matter of 'when, not if' the Afghan government would collapse and the Taliban would take control," Mr Milley said.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani's decision to flee the country was then "the straw that broke the camel's back", he said.

Still, both men maintained that no single factor alone led to the US's failure in Afghanistan, and they seemed to support the idea that the US should review the entire 20-year history of the conflict, not just its conclusion - a point supported by Democrats.

"We helped build an army, a state but we could not build a nation," Mr Milley said, calling the outcome a "strategic failure".

They also acknowledged that remaining in Afghanistan would have likely put American troops in harms way, as the Taliban may have restarted its fight with the US for not leaving, Mr McKenzie said, citing intelligence reports he had reviewed.

Both men said they still harboured animosity for the Taliban, which they characterised as a terrorist organisation.

"They themselves don't have a desire to attack us and our homeland, but they do harbour entities and organisations that do have a desire to do that," Mr McKenzie said of the Taliban.

Family members of American soldiers who died in the suicide blast at the Kabul airport and others who served in Afghanistan attended the hearing and watched as the former military leaders gave their sober assessments about the US withdrawal.

As it was their first time testifying since leaving the service, both were able to be more candid in their criticisms of US civilian officials and policymakers.

Much of the two retired generals' criticism was directed at the US State Department for not issuing the order to evacuate American civilians months earlier.

Mr McKenzie and Mr Milley both testified that the US still does not know how many Americans were in Afghanistan, and it remains unclear how many were able to safely get out.

While much of the hearing rehashed old arguments made by Democrats and Republicans, there was some bipartisan news welcomed by lawmakers in the room.

Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, announced that the White House and Congressional leaders had agreed to grant 12,000 more special immigrant visas for Afghan nationals who assisted the US.

Veterans of the war in Afghanistan and lawmakers have been fighting to expand the number of visas for Afghanistan immigrants, as only about 7,000 remained. The US has issued about 1,000 per month recently, raising fears that they could run out.

US troops pulled out of Afghanistan after 20 years - the country's longest ever war - and it left many Afghans who supported American forces in dangerous circumstances, particularly as viable exits from the country dried up.

The violent withdrawal dented perceptions of Mr Biden's international competence. Republicans have since seized on the failed exit as key line of attack ahead of the November presidential election.

The Biden administration and Democrats have regularly blamed Donald Trump for negotiating the agreement with the Taliban that led to the withdrawal, arguing that his decisions "severely constrained" Mr Biden's options.

But a government watchdog found that both administrations were to blame for the disastrous withdrawal that saw Afghan forces overwhelmed.