[ToloNews] Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon on Wednesday morning that "We believe that now after 20 years — two decades of consistent effort there — we’ve achieved a modicum of success."
"We went to Afghanistan ... to ensure that Afghanistan never again became a platform for holy warriors to strike the United States," he said.
Milley also said that US troops will continue training Afghan and Iraqi combat forces after the partial US withdrawals from those nations ordered by President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... last month.
Trump ordered the new drawdowns to be completed by Jan. 15, five days before he leaves office.
The moves will leave about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... he declined to provide many details about the US withdrawal plans for Afghanistan, citing security concerns.
The US media recently reported that American troops will shut down some bases that it has maintained across the country, reducing its footprint to "a couple of larger bases with several satellite bases that provide the capability to continue our train, advise and assist mission and our counterterrorism mission," Milley said.
"What comes after that, that will be up to a new administration," Milley said. "We’ll find that out on the 20th of January and beyond."
[KhaamaPress] General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon on Wednesday morning the outcome of troops withdrawal from Afghanistan will be eidetic soon after the new administration in January takes place.
While the Unites States believes its fight against terrorism in Afghanistan has been victorious, defeating Al-Qaeda and the so-called Taliban up to an extent, critique suggests the efforts “achieved a modicum of success”.
“We believe that now after 20 years — two decades of consistent effort there — we’ve achieved a modicum of success,” Milley said, as TOLOnews quoted.
“What comes after that [the troops withdrawal], that will be up to a new administration,” he added. “We’ll find that out on the 20th of January and beyond.”
One of the greatest fears that US and international allies have in common is Afghanistan becoming once again a safe haven for terrorists that can potential pose threat to other countries.
“We went to Afghanistan … to ensure that Afghanistan never again became a platform for terrorists to strike the United States,” Milley said.
Meanwhile, NATO has repeatedly voiced on a similar concern after troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying they are put in a tough situation to decide over a complete draw out from the country.
“… We assess that Taliban is not living up to their part of the agreement, not delivering on their promises, but then, of course, risk continued fighting, long-term continued military involvement in Afghanistan; or to leave…” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference Monday.
Trump ordered the new drawdowns to be completed by Jan. 15, five days before he hands office to President-elect Joe Biden, leaving about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
[KhaamaPress] The Interior Ministry says nearly 500 civilians have been killed and maimed in attacks by Talibs in the past month.
Interior Ministry front man Tariq Arian said on Thursday that Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... fighters had carried out 16 suicide kabooms and planted 168 mines in the past month.
He added that as a result of these actions, Taliban fighters had killed 134 civilians across the country.
According to Arian, 342 other civilians have been injured in the past month due to the escalation of violence by the Taliban.
Civilian casualties in Afghanistan have always been a serious concern for human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... organizations.
The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... has repeatedly called on the Afghan government and armed opposition groups to refrain from seriously harming civilians.
But the government has always blamed the Taliban for the civilian casualties in Afghanistan, saying group’s fighters are using civilians as human shields.
[ToloNews] An Afghan air force major under US protection at a US base in Afghanistan--with his family--who was originally promised asylum in the US, says he has now been told he will have to leave the US base if he does not rejoin the Afghan air force, Stars and Stripes reported.
Maj. Mohammed Naiem Asadi, one of the Afghan military’s attack helicopter pilots, his wife, and his 4-year-old daughter had been approved to seek refuge in America in early October due to being in "imminent danger of being killed by the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... ," Stars and Stripes reported, citing documents and emails.
The Pentagon, which had endorsed Asadi’s bid to come to America, changed its decision and withdrew its endorsement in early November, the report said.
The dilemma, for the pilot and his family, is that the Afghan government has threatened to jail pilots in the past for attempting to gain asylum in other countries, said Kimberly Motley, Asadi’s lawyer, according to the report.
Motley represented another Afghan pilot, Niloofar Rahmani, who received asylum in America in 2016 after receiving death threats from the Taliban, said Stars and Stripes.
In a letter to US officials, Motley stated she is "extremely concerned" the major will be imprisoned and separated from his family if he is turned over to the Afghan government.
For the last month, the 32-year-old Asadi and his family have been living under US military protection.
But US and Afghan military officers Sunday afternoon told Asadi that if he does not rejoin the Afghan air force, he will be forced to leave the base, Asadi said, said the report.
US Forces-Afghanistan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... Resolute Support referred comment to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which did not immediately reply to an email inquiry and a phone call, Stars and Stripes reported.
Fawad Aman, the deputy front man of the Afghan Defense Ministry, said the ministry wants to provide safety for Asadi, however, Asadi fears that the government will not provide adequate security for his family, especially amid the wave of assassinations by the Taliban.
Asadi, according to Afghan and US military sources cited by Stars and Stripes, has killed more Taliban than any other pilot in the Afghan air force. He was also responsible for protecting a downed US pilot by scrambling his attack helicopter, along with a second Afghan chopper, to protect the crash site.
“You may believe that these foreigners are here as your guests, but they are now occupying your house. This is a blatant violation of the arms embargo...”#Libya#LibyaReviewhttps://t.co/Ma20aJqP3P
“The terrorists, whether local or foreign, are present in military prisons, and they are subject to investigations and military trials...”#Libya#LibyaReviewhttps://t.co/Jo0P07wvrJ
SOHR: Syrian Death Toll Higher in Azerbaijan than Libya
They announced that they were receiving variable payments, as some were given 600 Turkish Lira (TL) and 3,500 USD while another group was given 1,000 USD and 1,000 TL each...#Libya#LibyaReviewhttps://t.co/NAhx7PPH3u
Arab League Condemns Turkish Intervention in Libya
“We have always emphasized that a military solution to the crisis was not possible, and that the settlement must be purely Libyan and purely national...”#Libya#LibyaReviewhttps://t.co/GyTw7Tywuf
[IsraelTimes] Aligning with US and contradicting EU policies, Zayed Alzayani says his country won’t make a distinction based on ’which city or which region’ Israeli goods were produced in.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
