(Photo : John Moore/Getty Images)
British Troops Secure Helmand Province In Southern Afghanistan
MUS QALA, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 23: Springer spaniel Toby, an eight-year-old explosives sniffer dog, arrives with British forces to Mus Qala in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on March 23, 2006. An advance team of British soldiers has been meeting with local Afghan leaders throught the province ahead of the arrival of the Helmand Task Force - several thousand British forces which should be fully deployed by June. The British troops are tasked with restoring security to the violent province, where Taliban forces control much of countryside and are financed by protecting the heroin poppy trade.
According to Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, it will be harder to fight terrorism once U.S. troops are pulled out of Afghanistan. He explained to Congress just how hard it will be to find, target, and destroy dangerous militant groups in the area.
U.S. Withdrawing from Afghanistan Will be a Problem
Last Tuesday, general Mackenzie had misgivings about giving up Afghanistan as a listening post in the Middle East. Leaving there will remove one of the most crucial areas, where American must identify threats to its interests, reported the Epoch Times.
He explained to the House Armed Services Committee his sentiments about pulling out as president Biden says. He says that leaving the country will make it hard to do, with the resources at American disposal to make it easier to deal with terror threats. It can be done, even if the U.S. is out of Afghanistan, but it will be double the effort.
Drones that are sent to kill terrorists will have to come from other countries. Instead of placing a drone in a matter of minutes, it will take far longer. Sending a manned raid or launching a long-range precision attack are two other options that are less cost-effective.
Americans are looking for agreements with partners close to Afghanistan to find resources and base assets to launch missions against the Taliban.
McKenzie said the U.S. military is capable of almost anything. He added that the problem is getting studied with all the resources available, in the smartest, no-risk option that are can be considered with the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan.
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President Joe Biden announced last week that by the time all troops have left, it would be complete by September 11, as set by Donald Trump. He said it was time to go and end "America's longest war."
"We traveled to Afghanistan in response to a horrific attack that occurred 20 years ago. That doesn't justify why we should stay in 2021," Biden was quoted saying.
Top military officials have warned both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden against removing all troops from Afghanistan, claiming that this would make it increasingly challenging to safeguard America.
McKenzie expressed his concern about the Taliban's "extreme brutality" during a February speech. A condition of an agreement struck by Trump's administration with the Taliban demanded that violence be minimized, but Biden's administration has dropped that condition.
According to the general, as U.S. forces abandon Afghanistan, countries like Pakistan and China will likely engage in "a range of hedging behaviors." Pakistani leaders are concerned about a flood of refugees trying to escape should civil war explodes again; Pakistan may be the most valuable U.S. partner.
The former Department of Defense official Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said that when America pulled troops out of Iraq, intelligence agencies had trouble getting information and monitoring the threat of ISIS and questioned if things would be identical in Afghanistan.
Mackenzie warned that the Taliban and Isis are not done with the U.S. and should not be taken lightly. He added a valid concern that should be seriously considered and that withdrawing from Afghanistan will leave a dangerous group unmonitored.
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