Well-trained swamp rat General Mark Milley was among the D.C. creatures who insisted that a Taliban takeover was not inevitable in Afghanistan. Now, he’s trying to explain how America’s longest war ended in such catastrophic failure on his watch. But the more he talks, the worse it gets.
Milley admitted to Fox News on Saturday that Afghanistan is returning to the status quo prior to the 2001 U.S. invasion, with civil war looming and the potential mounting for a terrorism resurgence.
“Conditions are likely”
After two decades of occupation that took 2,500 American lives and cost trillions of dollars, Afghanistan is back in the hands of the Taliban, along with billions in U.S. equipment, the Associated Press reports.
Stopping in Germany on Saturday, Milley did not give a definite answer when asked if America is now safer. But he acknowledged that civil war in Afghanistan is likely and warned that ISIS and al-Qaida could benefit from the chaos. ISIS-K bombings killed 13 troops in the war’s final days, as Axios reported.
“My military estimate is…that the conditions are likely to develop of a civil war,” Milley said Saturday, according to Fox News. “I don’t know if the Taliban is going to [be] able to consolidate power and establish governance,” the general opined. Still, he said “there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war and that will then, in turn, lead to conditions that could, in fact, lead to a reconstitution of al-Qaida or a growth of ISIS or other myriad of terrorist groups.”
“You could see a resurgence of terrorism coming out of that general region within 12, 24, 36 months. And we’re going to monitor that,” he added. There has reportedly already been fighting between the Taliban and pockets of resistance in the northern Panjshir Valley.
General refuses responsibility for failures
Weeks before the Taliban took over, Milley had said that a Taliban coup was “not a foregone conclusion” as he privately pushed Afghanistan’s ousted ex-president to create the impression that his Potemkin government was holding strong.
As America sorts through the costs of the war and its humiliating ending, Milley and other Pentagon leaders are refusing to take responsibility, and it is those demanding accountability, such as a Marine officer who has now resigned after being relieved of his command, who are suffering consequences.
After the Pentagon spent two decades telling Americans the war was succeeding, Milley acknowledged in retrospect that the Afghan army was not as formidable as he thought and that the people of Afghanistan lacked faith in the government.
Milley “comfortable” with refugee crisis
Speaking with Fox, Milley claimed once again that he was blindsided by how fast everything collapsed. “Afghanistan has always been a very difficult issue,” he said.
The United States doesn’t have much to show for its longest war, unless you count thousands of unvetted and potentially dangerous refugees who are now finding homes in America. Although some 100 refugees have been flagged for terrorism links, Milley said he was “very comfortable” with the situation, Fox reported.
It’s clear the general is either completely incompetent or a pathological liar. If he had any dignity, he would resign in disgrace.
The post Failure: Milley admits Afghanistan at risk of civil war that could give rise to terrorism first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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