Helped build a state, couldn't forge a nation: US Defence Secretary on Afghanistan
India Today
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday defended the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In his first congressional testimony on the tumultuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday defended the military's execution of a frantic airlift from Kabul and asserted it will be "difficult but absolutely possible" to contain future threats from Afghanistan without troops on the ground.
Speaking alongside Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Austin also questioned decisions made over the 20-year course of the US war in Afghanistan. In retrospect, he said, the American government may have put too much faith in its ability to build a viable Afghan government.
