The United States would have once again gone to war with the Taliban had US forces stayed in Afghanistan past September 1, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said in a congressional testimony on Tuesday.
“On the first of September we were going to go to war again with the Taliban, of that there was no doubt,” Milley told a US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The United States faced an August 31 deadline for withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan per a deal struck with the Taliban, MiIley said.
Although it would have been militarily feasible to stay, it would have required an additional and significant commitment of forces to Afghanistan in order to clear Kabul of Taliban fighters, likely resulting in significant US casualties, he added.