Republicans accuse Biden of lying to American people over advice on keeping troops in Afghanistan

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Republicans accused President Biden of lying to the American people after senators heard on Tuesday that the commander-in-chief was told his senior generals believed 2500 U.S. troops should stay in Afghanistan to prevent a Taliban takeover.

Testimony provided by the country’s defense secretary and two senior generals contradicted Biden’s claims he was never warned by military advisers that bringing home American soldiers risked the collapse of a fragile government in Kabul.

The result was a slew of furious accusations that Biden had ignored advice and lied to the country.

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said: ‘President Biden lied when he told the American people that nobody urged him to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.

‘Today, under oath, General McKenzie flatly contradicted the president. This is the worst American foreign policy disaster in a generation and the President is trying to cover his ass with political spin.’

Biden has been under intense pressure to defend his handling of the withdrawal.

The Taliban moved rapidly across the country ahead of his August 31 deadline to get Americans out of Afghanistan, seizing the capital Kabul on August 15.

Biden and his officials have insisted the speed of their lightning advance and the collapse of Afghan security forces took them by surprise. And Biden denied that his officials had advised him to leave troops behind.

But McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said he had been consistent in recommending a small presence of U.S. troops was essential. 

‘I stated consistently that my position was, if you go below 2500 you’re going to look at a collapse of the Afghan military,’ he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

‘I didn’t I did not foresee it to be days … I thought it would take months.’ 

He made his comments at the start of two days of intense scrutiny of the Biden administration’s Afghan strategy, sitting alongside Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  

Milley also said his view had been that leaving the country, without meeting specific conditions, would likely lead to the collapse of the Afghan armed forces and government.  

Milley told lawmakers: ‘In the fall of 2020, my analysis was that an accelerated withdrawal without meeting specific and necessary conditions risks losing the substantial gains made in Afghanistan, damaging US worldwide credibility, and could precipitate a general collapse of the Afghan government, resulting in a complete Taliban takeover or general civil war.

‘That was a year ago, my assessment remained consistent throughout.’

Some 3500 U.S. troops were in the country when President Biden was inaugurated. 

Milley declined to say exactly what he advised the president, but that it was his personal view that 2500 American troops were needed to prevent collapse.   

His words triggered immediate scrutiny of Biden’s comments defending his actions in August at the height of the crisis.

During an interview with ABC News, he denied that his military advisers warned him against bringing home all troops or that at least 2500 were needed to prevent a Taliban takeover. 

‘No one said that to me that I can recall,’ he told interviewer George Stephanopoulos.  

Sen. Tom Cotton brought up the interview during the hearing, asking Austin whether Biden was telling the truth when he said that no senior military adviser told him to leave a small military presence.

After saying that Biden was an ‘honest and forthright man’, he admitted: ‘Their input was received by the president and considered by the president, for sure.

‘In terms of what they specifically recommended senator, as they just said, they’re not going to provide what they recommended in confidence.’ 

The result was a slew of condemnation.

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn said: ‘From what we are hearing, President Biden rejected military advice to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, and then lied about it to the American people.’

Mark Meadows, chief of staff in the Trump White House said: ‘If it wasn’t already obvious, today’s Senate hearing confirmed: Joe Biden lied to the America people about his Afghanistan withdrawal plan.’

The president was entitled to reject the generals’ advise, said Leon Panetta, who was secretary of defense under President Obama.

‘But I do think it needs to be clear that the advice was given, and the advice was rejected,’ he told CNN.

Impact on U.S. credibility 

The speed of the withdrawal also triggered anger from U.S. allies, such as Britain, where ministers said they were blindsided by the rapid departure and the launch of a chaotic, frantic evacuation of foreign nationals. 

Milley said the episode had a damaging impact on U.S. standing in the world.

‘I think that our credibility with allies and partners around the world, and with adversaries, is being intensely reviewed by them to see which way this is going to go,’ he said. ‘And I think that damage is one word that could be used.’

It was left to Austin to defend the administration.

‘I think our credibility remained solid …’ he said. ‘Clearly there will be people who question things going forward.’

Senators on the Armed Services Committee also heard warnings that the country could still present a terrorist threat to American soil.

Officials have said all along that the rapid collapse of Afghanistan in 11 days, as the Taliban advanced rapidly across the country, took them by surprise.

Afghan army’s rapid collapse 

For his part, Austin defended the military’s execution of the chaotic Kabul airlift but blamed the fall of Kabul on the Afghan army’s sudden collapse.    

‘To be clear, those first two days were difficult,’ he said. 

‘We all watched with alarm the images of Afghans rushing the runway and our aircraft. 

‘We all remember the scenes of confusion outside the airport. But within 48 hours, our troops restored order, and process began to take hold.’ 

Despite 20 years of U.S. presence in the country, he admitted that Washington failed to ‘forge a nation’ that could stand on its own feet. 

‘The fact that the Afghan army – that we and our partners trained – simply melted away – in many cases without firing a shot, took us all by surprise and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise,’ he said.

‘We need to consider some uncomfortable truths that we didn’t fully comprehend: The depth of corruption and poor leadership in the senior ranks that we didn’t grasp; the damaging effect of the frequent and unexplained rotations by President Ghani of his commanders;  that we didn’t anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that the Taliban commanders struck with local leaders in the wake of the Doha agreement; and that the Doha agreement itself had a demoralising effect on Afghan soldiers.’ 

Role of Bagram air base 

Austin also tried to head off questions about whether the evacuation operation would have been more successful if the military had not shot down Bagram air base. 

‘Retaining Bagram would have required putting as many as 5000 US troops in harm’s way just to operate and defend it, and it would have contributed contributed little to the mission that we’ve been assigned, and that was to protect and defend the embassy which was some 30 miles away.

‘That distance from Kabul also rendered Bagram of little value in the evacuation.’

Terrorist threat against U.S. soil 

Biden has repeatedly declared that the degradation of Al Qaeda meant the original mission of U.S. troops in Afghanistan had been completed.

But senators were told that the Taliban remained a terrorist organization and had never broken its ties with Al Qaeda. 

‘I have no illusions who we are dealing with, said Milley during his opening statement. 

‘It remains to be seen whether or not the Taliban can consolidate power or if the country will further fracture into civil war. But we must continue to protect the United States of America and it people from terrorist attacks coming from Afghanistan. 

‘A reconstituted Al Qaeda or ISIS with aspirations to attack the United States is a very real possibility.’ 

McKenzie later addressed the question of whether the U.S. was in a position to counter such a threat.

‘I think we’re still seeing how Al Qaeda and ISIS are configuring themselves against the Taliban,’ he said.

‘We’re still seeing whether the Taliban is going to do, so I think — I would not say I’m confident that that’s going to be on the ground yet.’

Milley defends China calls 

Although the hearing was intended to dissect the Biden administration’s stance on Afghanistan, Milley used his opening statements to answer claims he made ‘secret’ calls to his Chinese counterpart and offered to warn him of any impending U.S. attack in the final days of the Trump presidency. 

The allegations were made in ‘Peril,’ a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. It cited Beijing’s fears that Trump was looking to start a war with China as his potential election loss loomed. 

Milley confirmed the broad premise of the book but denied that the calls were secret. 

He said they were part of the usual business of being chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and explained that the calls had been coordinated with the U.S. government.

‘I know, I am certain, President Trump did not intend on attacking the Chinese and it is my directed responsibility to convey presidential orders and intent,’ he said.

‘My message again was consistent: calm, steady, de-escalate. “We are not going to attack you.”‘

Impact of the Doha agreement

The two senior commanders said the Doha agreement – signed under President Trump after negotiations with the Taliban in the Qatari capital – had a negative impact on the morale and performance of the Afghan security forces. 

It essentially set a deadline for the U.S. withdrawal in return for the Taliban agreeing not to attack American forces. 

As senators probed whether the Biden administration should have had a clearer idea of the fragile nature of the Afghan military, McKenzie and Milley pointed to the agreement and its damaging fallout. 

McKenzie said: ‘It’s my judgement that the Doha agreement did negatively affect the performance of the Afghan forces, in particular by some of the actions the government of Afghanistan was required to take as part of that agreement.’

The deal required Kabul to release 5000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1000 Afghan government troops, as well as starting the withdrawal of thousands of American contractors who had supported local forces.

Milley added that in his assessment the Doha deal ‘did affect the morale of the Afghan security forces.’

Drone strike investigation   

The three witnesses faced questions about the August 29 drone strike that killed 10 civilians but said they might better be answered during an afternoon session behind closed doors. 

Austin said he had not yet been in touch with the aircrew responsible for the strike. 

‘I’ve directed a three-star review of this incident,’ he said. 

‘Gen. McKenzie did an initial investigation, and I directed a three-star review and so I won’t make any comments.’

The issue came up again later during the hearing when Gen. McKenzie was asked whether it was possible to adequately assess targets without intelligence assets on the ground.

He said he took full responsibility for the strike. 

‘The matter is under investigation, but what I can tell you broadly, and to restate some things that I’ve said earlier, I am responsible for that,’ he said. 

‘It happened in my area of responsibility, so I’m the responsible officer for that strike.’

And he said on this occasion the intelligence was ‘tragically wrong.’ 

‘I was under no pressure, and no one in my chain of command below me, was under any pressure to take that strike, we acted based on the intelligence read that we saw on the ground,’ he said.

Republicans in particular have intensified their attacks on President Joe Biden´s decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan by the end of last month, saying it left the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism. 

They are also demanding more details on the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 American service members in the final days of the withdrawal.  

In an early hostile salvo, Sen Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the committee, offered a withering analysis of the administration’s withdrawal and future strategy for Afghanistan.   

‘There is no plan. We have no reliable partners on the ground. We have no bases nearby,’ he said in his opening statement.

‘The Afghan government is now led by terrorists with long ties to Al Qaeda. And we’re at the mercy of the Pakistan government to get into Afghanistan airspace.

‘Even if we can get there, we can’t strike Al Qaeda in Afghanistan because we’re worried about what the Taliban will do to the Americans still there.’