Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of StaffGen Mark Milley take part in a news instruction at the Pentagon July 21, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia.
Alex Wong|Getty Images News|Getty Images
WASHINGTON– Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated Wednesday it was not yet clear what sort of relationship, if any, the Pentagon would have with the Taliban in Afghanistan after Western forces invested 20 years combating the Islamist militant group.
“It’s hard to predict where this will go in the future with respect to the Taliban,” Austin informed press reporters at the Pentagon when inquired about the next actions following Monday’s total U.S. military departure from the nation.
“We don’t know what the future of the Taliban is,” discussed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. ArmyGen Mark Milley.
“I can tell you from personal experience that this is a ruthless group from the past and whether or not they change remains to be seen,” Milley stated, including that he and Austin both battled versus the group throughout their military professions.
Taliban forces patrol near the entryway gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, a day after U.S soldiers withdrawal, in Kabul, Afghanistan August 31, 2021.
Stringer|Reuters
“And as far as our dealings with them at that airfield, or in the past year or so, in war, you do what you must in order to reduce risk to mission and force, not what you necessarily want to do,” Milley discussed when inquired about U.S. and Taliban coordination in the last days of a tremendous humanitarian evacuation objective.
The U.S. collaborated with the Taliban throughout the war’s last days to guarantee safe passage for U.S. residents and Afghan nationals to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul for evacuation. However, there were reports that the Islamist militants obstructed some Afghans from reaching the airport contrary to their public declarations.
When asked at the State Department if the U.S. would acknowledge the Taliban as a genuine federal government, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland stated it was early to state.
“Our relationship with the Taliban will be guided by what they do not by what they say,” Nuland started. “Now that said, there are some urgent questions, like the humanitarian condition of the people of Afghanistan. So we are looking at those kinds of things,” she included.
“But we have made no decisions about any of the rest of it, and we certainly won’t unless and until we see the kinds of behavior expected,” Nuland stated.
Taliban fighters in a car patrol the streets of Kabul on August 23, 2021 as in the capital, the Taliban have actually imposed some sense of calm in a city long spoiled by violent criminal offense, with their militaries patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints.
Wakil Kohsar|AFP|Getty Images
The remarks from the greatest levels of the Defense and State departments come one day after President Joe Biden certainly protected his choice to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
“When I was running for president I made a commitment that I would end this war, and today I have honored that commitment. It was time to be honest with the American people; we no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan,” Biden stated Tuesday from the White House.
“This decision about Afghanistan is not just about Afghanistan, it’s about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries,” the president included.
With its soldiers now gone, the U.S. will need to depend on diplomatic engagement with the Taliban to ensure safe passage out of Afghanistan for the Americans who stay and Afghans who worked for the U.S.
Biden in his Tuesday address stated that “90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave.” Less than 200 Americans stay in the nation, according to the State Department.
The president stated the U.S. will hold the Taliban liable for ensuring safe passage to anybody who still desires out of Afghanistan.
The U.S. and NATO released their military project in Afghanistan in October 2001, weeks after the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban at the time offered sanctuary to al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that prepared and performed the ravaging attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
About 2,500 U.S. service members have actually passed away in the dispute, which likewise declared the lives of more than 100,000 Afghan soldiers, cops workers and civilians. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have actually cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1.57 trillion jointly becauseSept 11, 2001, according to a Defense Department report.
