Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff took an apparent shot at the intelligence community
The Afghanistan finger-pointing intensified Wednesday after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said intelligence agencies never predicted the Taliban could take over the country as rapidly as it did.
By Jessica Chasmar
Finger-pointing over the botched withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has accelerated in the nation’s capital, as the White House, the Pentagon and intelligence officials have all sought to direct blame away from themselves.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Wednesday took an apparent shot at the intelligence community, which he said never predicted the Taliban could take over the country as rapidly as it did.
“I have previously said from this podium and in sworn testimony before Congress that the intelligence indicated multiple scenarios were possible,” he said. “However, the timeline of a rapid collapse that was widely estimated 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 and this government in 11 days.”
Milley’s comments came after leaks to The New York Times and NBC News indicated that intelligence officials had warned the White House and Pentagon that Afghanistan could rapidly collapse.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin blamed Afghan troops for the debacle during a call with members of Congress on Sunday, lamenting that “you can’t buy willpower.”
President Biden had touted the abilities of Afghan troops before the withdrawal but has since blamed them, as well as a Trump-era peace agreement, for the Taliban’s stunning gain of power over the country.
Biden spoke from the White House on Monday, saying the Taliban’s retaking of Afghanistan 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces “did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated” but that he still stood “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw troops.
Biden declared toward the end of his speech that “the buck stops” with him, but not before blaming his predecessor, former President Trump…
