Pentagon officials on Friday countered claims that the military hid a dire situation in Afghanistan, following the release of documents that showed several key leaders had doubts about the war.
The documents, dubbed the “Afghanistan Papers,” were published earlier this month by the Washington Post. Some have alleged the documents show the Pentagon intentionally misled the American people about the conflict. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 2013 to 2014, denied the accusation.
“I know there’s an assertion out there of some sort of coordinated lie over the course of 18 years,” Milley told reporters during a Pentagon press briefing. “I find that a bit of a stretch. More than a bit of a stretch. I find that a mischaracterization, from my own personal experience.”
Esper added that the government has been “very transparent” since the war began, noting that journalists, members of Congress, and several inspector generals visited the country over the last 18 years.
“So I think between all the folks looking at this conflict over the years, some type of insinuation that there’s been this large-scale conspiracy is just, to me, ridiculous,” Esper said. “And I certainly echo the chairman’s comment from that front.”
Among the Afghanistan Papers are interviews with senior officials conducted by the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction.
“If the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction … 2,400 lives lost,” retired Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the Afghanistan czar for the Bush and Obama administrations, told the SIGAR. “Who will say this was in vain?”
Milley denied the assertion that the U.S. has been throwing away American lives in the nearly two-decade-long conflict.
“Absolutely not. Not in my view, and I’m one who was there and as you said, many, many times,” Milley said. “I could not look myself in the mirror. I couldn’t answer myself at 2 or 3 in the morning when my eyes pop open and see the dead roll in front of my eyes. So no, I don’t think anyone has died in vain, per se.”
The papers included hundreds of memos from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In 2003, he said he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
When asked at the press conference if it were time to leave Afghanistan, Esper said the United States has a “mission” in the country.
“That is to ensure that it never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists,” Esper said. “So, until we are confident that that mission is complete, we will retain a presence to do that.”
