Matt Bush, FISM News
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Retired Marine General Frank McKenzie, the man known for urging Biden to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan or the Taliban would overrun the country, told “Face The Nation” that the U.S. has less than two or three percent of the intelligence capability they had prior to withdrawal.
McKenzie’s prediction that a U.S. withdrawal would result in chaos came true, and it came true even more quickly than most people believed was possible at the time. According to a timeline by ABC News, President Biden announced on April 14, 2021, that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11.
On August 15, the Taliban marched into Kabul and by September 7 the Taliban had already announced the formation of an interim government made up entirely of Taliban officials.
On “Meet The Press,” McKenzie spoke about why, since he made his case before Biden and was rejected by the president, he did not resign following the event.
I had the opportunity to give advice, advice to the president. He heard my advice. It was heard thoughtfully. And that’s really all a commander should expect to be able to do under our system. Once the president makes a decision, you know, for a combatant commander like me, the chain of command is very short. It is the secretary of defense and it is the president of the United States. And once a civilian leadership makes a decision, even though I might disagree with that decision, it is my moral responsibility to execute that order. To resign is not … in the history … it is not something that U.S. officers have typically done. And it sends a very bad signal. It is a political act by an officer who must need and must be and remain apolitical.
At the same time, McKenzie did not back down from acknowledging that Biden’s decision was not just a simple mistake, but it was a decision that had serious consequences for America. Aside from the weakness that it portrayed to the world at the cost of both American and Afghan lives, McKenzie revealed another consequence.
“Our interest in Afghanistan is preventing al-Qaeda or ISIS from regenerating and being able to conduct an attack on our homeland or the homelands of our friends and partners. And our ability to do that has certainly been gravely reduced,” he said.
McKenzie’s interview does not represent a partisan political voice attempting to score points for his party. It was a thoughtful piece given by a former high-ranking military expert who made a genuine attempt to stay apolitical during his career in the military.
He did not shy away from saying that mistakes are inevitable and were made by Republicans and Democrats alike. What is clear, however, is that from McKenzie’s experience in the White House, on the battlefield, and with intelligence, he believes that the decision to leave Afghanistan completely will hurt America’s ability to respond to terror.
McKenzie also reflected on the overall mission in Afghanistan, saying that there was a tremendous cost to keep terrorism at bay during the 20-year campaign.
“We prevented a major attack from occurring on the United States. The cost was not cheap, as you noted. We lost a lot of brave young Americans. Our coalition partners lost a lot of their soldiers. And, of course, the Afghan people paid a steep price for that,” he said.