Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes there’s a good chance of an Afghan civil war in the near future following the United States’s military withdrawal.
The U.S. ended the war in Afghanistan last week, leaving the Taliban in control of the country, though it’s too soon to tell if the terrorist organization will be able to field a functioning government.
“My military estimate is… that the conditions are likely to develop of a civil war,” Milley told Fox News. “I don’t know if the Taliban is going to [be] able to consolidate power and establish governance.”
EXCLUSIVE: FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER CALLS FOR AFGHANISTAN ‘ACCOUNTABILITY’
“I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war and that will then, in turn, lead to conditions that could, in fact, lead to a reconstitution of al-Qaeda or a growth of ISIS or other myriad of terrorist groups,” he added. “You could see a resurgence of terrorism coming out of that general region within 12, 24, 36 months. And we’re going to monitor that.”
Various Biden administration officials and Pentagon top brass have said the military will work to combat the growth of terrorism in Afghanistan through “over the horizon” capabilities. However, the military will be at a disadvantage due to a lack of troops on the ground to help with intelligence.
The Taliban gained nearly complete control of Afghanistan in less than two weeks via a military campaign in which they swiftly defeated the Afghan forces that enjoyed the support, training, and equipment of the U.S. military.
Milley acknowledged that the Afghan forces may not have been “designed appropriately.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The Army itself — the army and the police forces were a mirror image in many ways — and we created and developed forces that looked like Western forces,” Milley explained. “I think one of the big lessons learned here is maybe those forces were not designed appropriately for the type of mission.”
The U.S. and coalition forces eventually evacuated more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan, though a few hundred American citizens remain in the country. More than 170 people were killed during an ISIS-K terrorist attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport, where the evacuations occurred, and the U.S. military prevented two other attacks.
