“I am concerned about the Afghan military’s ability to hold on after we leave,” the top commander for U.S. operations in the Middle East and Near East, General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 22, 2021.

The CENTCOM commander’s stern warning came one week after President Joe Biden had announced that by Sept. 11, 2021, the last remaining 2,500 U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan.