WASHINGTON: Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said U.S. forces will not be withdrawing from Afghanistan in an interview on Sunday with ABC’s This Week.
He added that US forces will remain in the country “for several more years.”
Milley pointed out that, after the September 11 attacks, the reason U.S. forces went into Afghanistan was to make sure that the country never again would be a haven for extremists who would attack the United States.
“I think we have to go back to the original reason why we are in Afghanistan to begin with, which is 9/11. So, we went there in order to make sure that Afghanistan never again would be a haven, a safe haven, to terrorists that would attack the United States. That mission is not yet complete,” he explained.
He added, “In order for that mission to be successful, the government of Afghanistan, the Afghan security forces are going to have to be able to sustain their own internal security to prevent terrorists from using their territory to attack other countries, especially the United States. That effort’s ongoing.”
