Congress Discusses Troops Deployment Recommendations In Afghanistan, White House: Could Trigger A War With The Taliban

Illustration of US troops in Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/The US Army)

JAKARTA - US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the defeat of the Afghan army in a short time surprised the Pentagon, while President Biden was given the advice to keep some of his troops, at the risk of open war against the Taliban.

This was conveyed by Minister Austin who accompanied a number of his general staff before the United States Congress (US), last Tuesday.

Republican lawmakers accused President Joe Biden of lying about recommendations from his military that some troops should be kept in Afghanistan. President Biden cited frustration with a chaotic withdrawal that left troops dead and Americans left in the country.

Thirteen US troops were also killed in a suicide bomb attack on August 26 in support of security efforts, during the evacuation process at Kabul airport, Afghanistan amid the Taliban deadline.

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Marine General Frank McKenzie of US Central Command (CENTCOM) also acknowledged being caught off guard by the speed of the Taliban takeover and the collapse of the US-backed government in Kabul.

It was their first public testimony in congress since the Taliban won the war in August.

"The fact that our trained Afghan soldiers and partners lost so easily, in most cases without firing a shot, shocked us all," Secretary Austin, a former four-star general who served in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Meanwhile, Generals McKenzie and General Milley testified, they believed it would be best to keep a minimum of 2.500 US troops in Afghanistan. However, in an interview last month, President Biden denied his commanders had recommended it. "No. Nobody said that to me that I can remember," said President Biden.

Milley, the top US military officer, noted the military warning had been in place since late 2020, calling an accelerated and unconditional withdrawal could trigger the collapse of the Afghan military and government.

"That was a year ago. My assessment remains consistent," said Milley.

Separately, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States could potentially engage in war with the Taliban if Washington kept its 2.500 troops in the country.

Psaki made the comments in an attempt to clarify the apparent difference between President Joe Biden's insistence that there were no divisions among his military advisers about the withdrawal and the senior general's statement that the US military wanted to leave a contingent of troops in the country.

"We will go to war with the Taliban," Psaki said if the United States continued to leave troops in Afghanistan after the August 31 withdrawal deadline.