United States loses war against Afghanistan: US Chief

The United States (US) has regrets about its withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years, US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley said on the ABC television program "This Week".

"It didn't end the way I wanted it to. It didn't end the way any of us wanted it to. When the enemy occupies your capital, it's a strategic setback, a strategic failure. And there's no way to describe it as a strategic success," Milley said.

"In a broader sense, the war was lost. We had been fighting the Taliban and their allies for more than 20 years, and they prevailed in that capital for many reasons that I don't have time to go into here. Of course, many of us have had many regrets since September 11," he added.

'AMERICA REGRETS LOSS OF SOLDIERS' LIVES'

"Wars are not lost in the last 10 days or 10 months. Typically, they are the cumulative effect of many turns and changes over many years. And this war will unfold in the same way when its final history is written. There are many lessons learned. There are many lefts when you should have gone to the right, and all these will be revealed in due course. But there are many regrets, absolutely, 100 percent. Every soldier I lost is a regret," Milley emphasized.

The US Chief also addressed the soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

"I want everyone who wore the uniform over there to hold their heads high because they did what their nation wanted. We have protected the United States from attack from Afghanistan for 20 consecutive years and given the Afghan people hope for a better life," he said.

‘EVICTIONS SHOULD HAVE STARTED EARLIER’

Drawing attention to the successes during the withdrawal, Milley described the evacuation as "an incredible logistical success" and reminded that 124 thousand people were evacuated.

He was also asked whether he regretted that the US military should have started evacuations in Afghanistan earlier, and he said that he thought the decisions to move the embassy and the State Department could have been made a little earlier.

Source: Ihlas News Agency