...the organization formerly known as the
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on Sunday, the retired US general said, "The situation on the ground has become increasingly dire with each passing week."
"I fear we will look back and regret the decision to withdraw," Petraeus said. "Sadly, we may regret that sooner than I had originally thought when I said that right after the decision was announced."
"Beyond that, I think we will also look back and regret the hasty way in which we seem to be doing this," added Petraeus, who retired from the Army to become director of the CIA in 2011.
US President Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem mschine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family...
has announced that American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan, and he recently moved up the date of the final departure to August 31, as the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
claimed that they now control 85 percent of the country’s territory.
The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 on the pretext of fighting terrorism and removing the Taliban from power, but after the 20 years of war the country now looks descending into chaos and the Taliban knocking on Kabul’s door. Some high-profile Americans are now suggesting that the US war should not end.
Petraeus praised the Afghan National Security Forces for their fight against the Taliban, saying they "had been fighting and dying in very large numbers. And they still are. The problem now is they're not sure if someone is coming to the rescue, and that injects a very considerable amount of uncertainty into the battlefield."
The retired CIA chief went on to argue that withdrawing American troops was not going to end the fighting in Afghanistan.
"No one wants to see endless wars ended more than those who have actually served in them, but we are not ending this war, we are ending US involvement in it," he said.
Petraeus also said, "What I see now, sadly, is the onset of what is going to be quite a brutal civil war."
| Courtesy of Skidmark, the Daily Mail adds: |
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...government was dislodged from Kabul, it was never fully vanquished.
Since 2001, more than 2,300 American military personnel have died and more than 20,000 have been maimed in Afghanistan.
The number of Afghan civilians who have died ranges from 35,000 to 40,000, according to estimates.
The financial cost of maintaining the war effort is also steep for the American taxpayer, as the Pentagon is estimated to have spent more than $824billion in Afghanistan.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have chalked up dozens of wins and now hold key border crossings with Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistain.
The Taliban is enforcing its harsh interpretation of Islamic rule and reverting to its fundamental roots as it makes huge advances across Afghanistan.
Insurgents are issuing new orders to captured territories, banning smoking and beard-shaving and ordering villagers to marry off their daughters to foot soldiers and stopping women from heading out alone.
The Islamist group warned that anyone who breaks the rules 'will be seriously dealt with'.
It comes a day after video emerged of Taliban fighters massacring 22 Afghan commandos who had surrendered in Dawlat Abad, in northern Faryab province.
The Islamists are trying to persuade government troops to abandon their posts on the promise of safe passage back to their homes as they take advantage of the US withdrawal.