A former top general in the United States Marine Corps has crushed President Joe Biden’s disastrous plan to withdraw from the war in Afghanistan – a plan that history would view as a mistake, the former military leader said.
General Frank McKenzie, who retired in April 2022, was the head of U.S. Central Command during the withdrawal, including the suicide bombing that killed 13 soldiers at Kabul airport on August 26, 2021.
In an interview on Sunday, he said he felt the withdrawal – which drew much criticism and which he had previously defended – would be viewed as a terrible mistake from plan to execution.
“I believe that history will view the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in the way we did and the way we were instructed to be a fatal mistake,” he said.
McKenzie said in March 2022 that he would regret the withdrawal for the rest of his life – a decision that allowed the Taliban to quickly take control of Afghanistan while Americans and refugees fled to safety.
General Frank McKenzie, now retired, was head of US Central Command during the withdrawal. He now says it was the wrong decision to leave
“I very much regret the end in Afghanistan.” “I regret the fundamental decision, which I think was the wrong decision,” he told Fox News.
“And I particularly regret that when we made the decision to deploy our combat troops, we did not decide to begin evacuating our people, our embassy staff, our American citizens and our vulnerable Afghans.” I think that was a serious one mistake, and I think that led directly to the events of August 2021.”
McKenzie had previously said he was proud of the way American troops evacuated 124,000 people from Kabul, but he was and will forever be haunted by the suicide attack that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and more than 100 Afghans.
“We were dealing with the possibility of an attack with a suicide vest, but no specific description of the individual,” McKenzie, who served under Biden and Trump, said of the attack.
“We were dealing with the possibility of an indirect fire attack, either with rockets or mortars, but I know there was no information to support the claim that we knew what the bomber looked like, that he had a backpack with three yellow ones wore stripes. ‘ he added.
“There just wasn’t any of that. “We just didn’t have that intelligence.”
He was honest when asked what he might have changed about the withdrawal.
“Every time you lose people you look back and wonder if you could have done things differently and that haunts me. I think about it quite a bit. It’s one of the many regrets I feel. I’ve investigated everything we’ve done. “I think about it every year, especially in August, for the rest of my life.”
Smoke rises from a deadly explosion outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, August 8. 26. 2021
McKenzie had previously said he was proud of the way American troops evacuated 124,000 people from Kabul, but he was and will forever be haunted by the suicide attack that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and more than 100 Afghans
McKenzie’s successes included the high-profile raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019, but he also described how he thinks every day about the troops killed in Kabul.
He spoke about this for the first time at his last press conference in March 2018.
“The collapse of the Afghan government was not the outcome we wanted when we began our withdrawal,” he said.
“But the courage and hard work of several thousand soldiers in difficult and dangerous conditions that enabled the evacuation of 124,000 U.S. partners and Afghan nationals is something the nation can be very proud of.”
“It came at a terrible cost: 13 U.S. soldiers and over 100 Afghan civilians were killed.”
“And that is a loss that I deeply regret.” I will regret it for the rest of my life.
“We owe these heroes our gratitude.”
They died when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near a US checkpoint at Kabul airport in the final, desperate days of the withdrawal.
Gen. Frank McKenzie said he was proud of the way American troops evacuated 124,000 people from Kabul, but the suicide bombing at the airport would haunt him forever
The 13 fallen soldiers were returned to the United States after the attack on Kabul airport on August 26 in the final days of the withdrawal from Afghanistan
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza (left) and Naval Nurse Maxton W. Soviak (right)
Thousands of Afghans tried to flee to safety and US Marines controlled them one by one when the blast occurred.
The local affiliate of Islamic State – known as ISIS-K – claimed responsibility.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about last August and the loss of our 11 Marines, one soldier and one sailor there,” McKenzie said.
“I think about it a lot. “You go back and you’re always trying to find ways that you could have done differently.”
But he said the battlefield is a dynamic place.
“We couldn’t stop this attack,” he said.
“I don’t know what we could have done to represent that particular attack,” he said.
“For those who lost a child or loved one there.” “My heart breaks for them and I feel their pain.”
For the past three years he has led US troops in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. And he assumed responsibility for operations in Afghanistan last year when the US reduced its presence.
In his final comments to journalists, he alluded to some of the darkest moments.
“And there were days, I tell you, when I would rather have my leg removed below the knee and then come in and talk to you,” he said via video link.
“But it was an important thing.”
He took the opportunity to provide an assessment of the region under his command and outline the threats to the US
“Continue to view Iran as the greatest threat to regional security and stability,” he said.
“They supply weapons, support and direct proxies throughout the region who engage in terrorist attacks and undermine local governments, all of which serve Iranian interests.”
Iran’s arsenal was on display over the weekend when rockets hit a U.S. Army base and a Kurdish news channel office in Erbil, northern Iraq, in retaliation for an Israeli attack
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled a new missile last month – the “Khaibar Buster” – with a range of about 900 miles
“Iran’s ballistic missile threat has continued to grow and expand with greater range and accuracy.” CENTCOM has continued to monitor Iran and its proxies as we act as a deterrent against Iranian attacks on U.S. interests.
These attacks and the threat to American interests were highlighted last weekend when their rockets struck a U.S. Army base and a Kurdish news station office in Erbil, northern Iraq.
Iran later claimed responsibility and said it carried out the attack in retaliation for an Israeli attack in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard last week.
No one was injured in the attack on Erbil.