Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US General Mark Milley said that their 20-year presence was their strategic failure and his personal opinion was to have 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
The US general in his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee said that he did not advise President Joe Biden about keeping troops in Afghanistan and added that this was his personal opinion.
He believed that several thousand troops were needed to prevent the unexpectedly rapid takeover of the Taliban.
In the meantime, the white house speaker Jen Psaki defended the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and added that president Joe Biden was given split advices over the pullout of troops.
The US defense secretary who was also attending the testimony said that the Taliban was a terrorist organization remains a terrorist organization and added that they have not cut relations with Al-Qaida.
Minister Lloyd Austin said that Al-Qaida and Islamist groups can pose a terrorist threat to the US in the next 12 to 36 months.
