The U.S. will regret its “hasty” withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan, where a “brutal civil war” is looming, retired Gen. David Petraeus said on Sunday.
The violent conflict is far from ending with the departure of U.S. troops, who are closing out a 20-year presence under orders by President Biden to leave by Aug. 31, said Petraeus, who previously commanded U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, on CNN.
“No one wants to see endless wars ended more than those who have actually served in them, but we are not ending this war — we are ending U.S. Involvement in it,” Petraeus said.
“I fear we will look back and regret the decision to withdraw.”
While the commander-in-chief insists the U.S. achieved its main goals in Afghanistan, Petraeus said he is concerned as the Taliban regains territory.
“We will also look back and regret the hasty way in which we seem to be doing this,” he said.
“What I see now, sadly, is the onset of what is going to be quite a brutal civil war.”
Talks between the Taliban and Afghan government are in the works in Qatar. The forces have been battling in dozens of provinces, prompting thousands of Afghans to try to escape.
The withdrawal of U.S. forces is more than 95% complete, according to the Associated Press.
Petraeus, who became CIA director after retiring from the Army, also decried the high death toll among Afghan government forces.
“The problem now is they’re not sure if someone is coming to the rescue, and that injects a very considerable amount of uncertainty into the battlefield,” he said.
Biden originally set the deadline for U.S. troops to get out of Afghanistan for Sept. 11. Terrorist attacks on that day in 2001 prompted the U.S. and its allies to go after terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and the Taliban government sheltering him.
With News Wire Services
