Pulling US troops out of Afghanistan too soon could be 'strategic mistake': Gen. Keane
Gen. Jack Keane discusses the impact of pulling American troops from Afghanistan on 'The Story with Martha MacCallum'
The Taliban have gained "significant momentum" since President Biden's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Fox News senior strategic analyst and retired Army Gen. Jack Keane told "The Story" Wednesday.
"What is truly happening here is the Taliban have gained significant momentum," Keane told host Martha MacCallum, warning that a collapse of the Afghan government is imminent.
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"The reason for that is, they normally conduct operations with air support," he explained. " Now they don’t have any…. of course, the last several years, the Afghans have been doing the fighting largely by themselves but always had our U.S. air support and also coalition support as well. That has been gone. As a result of that, the Taliban have significant momentum. That’s what you’re seeing as these districts are falling and provincial capitals are falling, so much so, that I think in several months, we could see the collapse of the security forces and also the Afghan government, which certainly would be tragic."
"I think in several months, we could see the collapse of the security forces and also the Afghan government, which certainly would be tragic."
The U.S. intelligence community warned last week that the Afghan government could collapse as soon as six months following the complete U.S. military withdrawal from the country, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The Biden administration began the official removal of troops from Afghanistan early last month, postponing the original exodus date of May 1 – agreed to under the Trump administration – to Sept. 11, 2021.
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Roughly 2,500 U.S. troops and 7,000 NATO soldiers remain in the Taliban-ridden country. Pentagon officials warned that remaining troops could be at a higher risk of attack as Western forces decrease and the insurgents regain power.
MacCallum noted that the Biden administration, in an attempt to soften the blow of a complete withdrawal, committed to assisting the Afghan military on an as-needed basis in dire circumstances.
"For the life of me, I don’t know what that means," Keane responded. "I heard something similar in 2011 when Vice President Biden made the recommendation to President Obama that we pull the troops out of Iraq. Statements were similar. ‘We’re your strategic partners, we’re going to stay with you, continue to support you. We’re not really leaving you.’"
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"Look, that’s rich that the Pakistanis are saying we won’t give you a base. The Pakistanis have been supporting the Taliban for 20 years that we’ve been involved in despite the fact that they’re supposedly an ally. Because of the suddenness of the decision, Martha, the military is scraping to find bases to put a base there so we can support close to Afghanistan as opposed to coming all the way from the Persian Gulf or coming from at sea," Keane explained. "There is no time. The clock is ticking and we’re running out of time in terms of getting that done effectively."
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