Defense Secretary Says the US Needs to Consider ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ During Afghanistan Testimony

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the United States needs to consider “uncomfortable truths” in its assessment of the 🇦🇫Afghanistan withdrawal.

During his testimony before the Senate Armed Service Committee on Tuesday, Austin acknowledged the United States failed to see that there was only so much the Afghan forces would fight for.

He asked, “Did we have the right strategy? Did we have too many strategies? Did we put too much faith in our ability to build effective Afghan institutions? An army, an air force, the police force, and government ministries? We helped build a state… but we could not forge a nation.”

Austin argued the fact that the Afghan Army “melted away” took them by surprise.

He continued, “We need to consider some uncomfortable truths. 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 frequent and unexplained rotations by President Ghani of his commanders.”

Additionally, Austin claimed they did not “anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that the Taliban commander struck with local leaders in the wake of the Doha agreement. And that the Doha agreement itself had a demoralizing effect on Afghan soldiers. And finally, that we failed to grasp that there was only so much for which, and for whom, many of the Afghan forces would fight.”

Watch part of Lloyd’s testimony below:

Austin recently received criticism from the fallout of the 🇦🇫Afghanistan