and are we concentrating on the wrong subject? would a 2,500-troop contingent have just remainedhere four, five, or ten years? was that sustainable? well, you know, my own view is had we stayed beyond the 31st of august, the taliban would have re-engaged the war, we would have had to reinforce not 2,500, but probably 15,000, 20,000 nato troops total and we would have kept the afghan government and armed forces from collapsing. i do believe it was a legitimate political decision by president biden and trump to withdraw all forces and to do it in a very short term. in addition, mr. trump teed up the doha agreement, which essentially completely threw the afghan government under the bus and would clearly result in their eventual collapse.
rest of these programs. bless you for that explanation. we may hold you to it. barry r mccaffrey, we get to come to you and what did you make of the disconnect on display during the testimony today from the advice that these three military men gave the president the advice that the president either says he did not receive, or did not taken. and then we concentrating on the wrong subject? would a 2500 troop contingent have just remain there for five or ten years with at sustainable? well my own view is ha we stayed beyond the 31st of august, the taliban uld have reengaged on the war we would ve had toreinforce, not 2500, but probably ,000 need troops. we would ve kept the afghan government in our force from
troops, every day would have gotten more dangerous because the taliban wouldn t have complied after may 1st. do i have that right? basically, alisyn. the real problem is i think president biden felt he was put in a box, right, he s looking at all the different possibilities of how to handle afghanistan, and he has this agreement, the doha agreement that was negotiated during the trump administration. there were a lot of problems with that agreement, but basically what it says is you ve got to get out of here by that time, may 1st. the deadline was extended until the 31st of august, and that is in essence what president biden felt he had to live with, so as a result of that, we had a very hasty, perhaps mal planned way of evacuating this, this theater of operations for 20 years. that was a real dilemma for the administration. general milley was asked about and talked about whether or not we are safer, well,
behind in afghanistan, the military is going to stay until we get them out. general milley, did that statement turn out to be true or untrue by the president? i think that was the intent, but we gave him a recommendation on the 25th of august to terminate the mission on the 31st of august. the statement was untrue. let me ask another question. general milley, general mckenzie the president around the same time said, quote, al qaeda was gone from afghanistan. was that true or not true? was al qaeda gone from afghanistan in mid august? true or not true? al qaeda is still in afghan. they were there in mid august. they have been severely disrupted over many many years. so it wasn t true. general mckenzie? al qaeda was present in afghanistan. the president called this entire retrograde operation an extraordinary success. general miller in his testimony disagreed with that assertion.
military is going to stay until we get them out. general milley, was that statement did that statement turn out to be true or untrue by the president? i think that was the intent, but we gave him a recommendation on the 25th of august to terminate the mission on the 31st of august. the statement was untrue. let me ask another question. general milley, general mckenzie, the president around the same time said, al qaeda was gone from afghanistan, told the american people that. was that true or not true? was al qaeda gone from afghanistan in mid-august? true or not true? al qaeda is still in afghanistan. they were there in mid-august. they have been severely disrupted over many years. they are not so it wasn t true. general mckenzie, true or not? al qaeda is present in afghanistan. it wasn t true. one final one. the president called this entire retrograde operation an extraordinary success. general milner his testimony disagreed with that assertion.