Gen. McKenzie criticizes Afghanistan withdrawal delays as ‘American arrogance’.
Retired General McKenzie: American Arrogance Delayed Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie believes that the delay in withdrawing troops from Afghanistan can be attributed to “American arrogance.” Speaking about his regrets regarding the withdrawal that resulted in the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. service members in August 2021, McKenzie, who was the head of United States Central Command at the time, expressed his concerns about the decision to stay until the very end.
“I think it’s a case of American exceptionalism or American arrogance, depending on your perspective, to believe that you can actually withdraw, beaten from the field of battle, and still maintain a large political platform in the country you’re actually retreating from,” McKenzie said in an interview with Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin.
McKenzie emphasized that waiting until the last moment to begin the evacuation and giving away Bagram Airfield were critical decisions that led to the chaotic scenes at the airport in Kabul.
The suicide bombing carried out by Abdul Rahman al Logari at the Kabul airport during the evacuation resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and at least 170 Afghan citizens. It was one of the deadliest incidents in the U.S.’s two-decade presence in Afghanistan.
Reflecting on the tragedy, McKenzie acknowledged the constant questioning of whether things could have been done differently. “You wonder if you could have done things differently. And I am haunted by that. I think about it quite a bit. It’s one of the many regrets that I have,” he said.
McKenzie dismissed claims that the U.S. had intelligence about a suicide bomber staying at a hotel and that the Taliban failed to act on the request to conduct an assault on the hotel. He clarified that there were no specific intelligence reports about a hotel and that multiple targets were shared with the Taliban for their consideration.
The details regarding these claims were revealed in the book Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden’s Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End.
When asked about the decision to strike a deal with the Taliban, McKenzie stated that he does not believe they intentionally allowed Logari through and that he does not regret the agreement. He added, ”And I feel had we not done so, our casualties would have been significantly higher.”
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