The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who served under both President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, on Wednesday hit back against pundits and news media reports claiming the intelligence community had warned Afghanistan could fall to the Taliban in a matter of days.
“There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army in this government in 11 days,” General Mark Milley said in a news briefing Wednesday afternoon.
“Let me make one comment on the intelligence, because I’m seeing all over the news that there were warnings of a rapid collapse,” General Milley told reporters.
“I have previously said from this podium, and in sworn testimony before Congress, that the intelligence clearly indicated, multiple scenarios were possible. One of those was an outright Taliban takeover, following a rapid collapse of the Afghan security forces and the government. Another was a civil war, and a third was a negotiated settlement. However, the timeframe of rapid collapse that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months and even years following our departure. There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army in this government in 11 days.”
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