Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejects generals’ criticism of planned Afghanistan withdrawal
The generals have it wrong, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday, defending President Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
“We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago, and we went because we were attacked on 9/11,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
“We achieved the objectives that we set out to achieve,” Blinken continued. “Al Qaeda has been significantly degraded … and of course, Osama bin Laden was brought to justice 10 years ago.”
He stopped short of uttering the phrase “mission accomplished,” made infamous by former President George W. Bush when he prematurely declared victory in the war in Iraq in 2003.
Last Wednesday, Biden announced the troop withdrawal will take place by Sept. 11, 2021, ending the longest war in the history of the U.S. He said the nation can’t keep pouring resources into what he called a “forever war” that’s lasted nearly two decades.
The president’s plan drew criticism from generals who previously commanded troops in Afghanistan. Those included retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who said the move will leave the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorist threats.
Blinken respectfully disagreed.
The administration is “going to make sure that we have assets appropriately in place to see this coming, if it comes again, to see it and to be able to to deal with it,” he said.
The secretary of state gave the interview from Washington following a trip last week to Afghanistan, where Taliban leaders have been refusing to participate in peace talks with the Afghan government.
“If the Taliban is going to participate in some fashion in governance, if it wants to be internationally recognized, if it doesn’t want to be a pariah, it’s going to have to engage in a political process,” said Blinken.
About 2,500 U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan. NATO forces there number roughly 7,000. They’ll begin exiting the country, too, starting May 1.
