Afghan Forces Must ‘Slow the Momentum’ of Taliban, US Defense Secretary Says

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, ALASKA - U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday that Afghan leadership is consolidating its forces around key population centers ahead of efforts to retake territory lost to the Taliban while the U.S. was withdrawing most of its troops from the country.

“The first thing to do is to make sure that they can slow the momentum, and then be able to put themselves in the position where they can retake some of the gains that the Taliban, some of the ground that they have lost,” Austin told reporters traveling with him to Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Austin said Afghan military leaders are “committed” and capable of stopping Taliban gains. “They have the capabilities. They have the capacity to make progress and to really begin to blunt some of the Taliban’s advances, but we’ll see what happens,” he said.