Biden's top general Austin Scott Miller warned that 'go-to-zero' troops order in Afghanistan would go bad 'very fast'
WASHINGTON, DC: In testimony before Congress last month, a former NATO commander of US forces in Afghanistan said he told the Biden administration that a complete troop withdrawal from the war-torn country “would go very bad very fast.”
In a transcribed interview on April 15, retired Army General Austin Scott Miller told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that "going to zero" troop presence would have left the government in Kabul, which is backed by the West, open to an attack by the Taliban similar to the one that took over the nation in August 2021. “My recommendation was that we retain a footprint,” Miller said. “I could not rule out a need for a surge down the road to protect forces. But at the same time, I didn’t necessarily think it was the most likely.”
Austin Scott Miller warned Biden admin against complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
The four-star general continued saying that he had advised Trump and Biden administrations to maintain a minimum of 2,500 troops on the ground in bases in Kabul and Bagram Airfield, the latter of which was abandoned by the US military one month prior to the evacuation of all military personnel, according to New York Post.
“My view was that, going to zero, things would go very bad very fast,” Miller recalled. “And of course, [I] define that [as] not prepared for a political or a security collapse while we’re still present, just wouldn’t be prepared.”
While former President Donald Trump initiated the withdrawal through the 2020 Doha Agreement, Miller informed House panel members that the Taliban had launched "at least a couple of indirect fire attacks."
The aggression marked the onset of what was perceived as an impending "military takeover," despite attempts by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials from the Biden administration to negotiate a "power-sharing" agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
Miller testified as per the press release, “I’d say the Afghan Government died of a thousand cuts as opposed to a tipping point-type thing,” noting that President Biden's announcement of a complete withdrawal of US diplomats and military personnel on April 14, 2021, accelerated this demise.
“[A]t that point, my focus was, ‘How do I get these guys out of here without hurting somebody?’” he said. “And I’m going to be very honest with all of you. You want to talk about — I don’t usually get scared. I don’t. I was scared. And you know what I was afraid of? I was afraid I was going to lose somebody.”
Biden admin lacked 'understanding the risk' of complete troop evacuation
Miller said that he recommended that the US embassy be evacuated from Kabul in May 2021 shortly after Biden ordered it, saying that State Department officials lacked "understanding of the risk." Former officials who spoke to the House Foreign Affairs Committee criticized the department's selection of diplomats involved in the botched evacuation.
“In my perspective, they did not send their best,” a former foreign service officer said in a September 15, 2023, interview. “In fact, they may have sent their worst,” he admitted.
Several months after his release from Bagram prison during the Taliban's takeover, ISIS-K suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated himself outside the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The attack resulted in the deaths of approximately 200 Afghans and 13 US service members amid the noncombatant evacuations from Kabul. Miller deduced that the US troops faced a challenging situation as the evacuation was requested by State Department representatives "too late."
“[I]f the building’s already on fire before you start evacuating it,” he said, “it’s a much more challenging evacuation.”
