George W. Bush says ending US military mission in Afghanistan is a mistake

Maine: Former president George W. Bush stated he believes the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan is a mistake, in uncommon public remarks on the army intervention he launched almost 20 years in the past.

In an interview with German worldwide broadcaster Deutsche Welle that was posted on-line Wednesday, Bush stated he’s “afraid Afghan girls and ladies are going to undergo unspeakable hurt” due to the withdrawal.

“, I believe it’s,” Bush stated when requested whether or not he thinks the withdrawal is a mistake. “Yeah, as a result of I believe the implications are going to be unbelievably dangerous. And I am unhappy. Laura and I spent a variety of time with Afghan girls. They usually’re scared.”

President Joe Biden introduced earlier this yr that he’s ending the US army’s mission begun within the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist assaults, abandoning a pressure of about 600 troops to guard the US Embassy and the worldwide airport just a few miles away. Biden has stated the withdrawal will finish formally on August 31, however successfully it’s full now, with Monday’s departure of the highest US commander in Afghanistan, Military Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, in response to protection officers.

America has spent almost a trillion {dollars} on Afghanistan since 2001, funding the battle, propping up the nation’s authorities, constructing a army and financing infrastructure initiatives, in response to Pentagon stories. US airstrikes had been instrumental in driving the novel Islamic Taliban regime from energy in Kabul in November 2001 after 5 years of brutal rule.

Many Afghan girls have seen the presence of US forces in Afghanistan as protecting. Below Taliban rule, girls weren’t allowed to work, attend college or journey exterior the house with out a male guardian. When in public, they had been required to put on the burqa, a head-to-toe masking with a small mesh window to see by means of.

In most Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan right this moment, girls stay largely absent from public life and nonetheless face the identical restrictions on gown, however ladies are allowed to attend college, and girls are allowed to work in sure fields reminiscent of drugs and training.

Within the Deutsche Welle interview, which was taped as a part of a documentary on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush additionally stated he worries about others in Afghanistan who assisted US and NATO forces over the previous 20 years.

“I take into consideration all of the interpreters and people who helped – not solely US troops, however NATO troops – and so they’re simply, it looks as if they’re simply going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal individuals,” Bush stated. “And it breaks my coronary heart.”

“I am positive Angela – I have never talked to her about it – however I believe she feels the identical means,” Bush added. “In any case, she was a bit woman who grew up in a fairly closed society.”

In remarks this month, Biden pledged to relocate 1000’s of Afghan interpreters who served alongside U.S. troops and now worry for his or her lives and the security of their households, including that some relocation flights would start as early as this month.

Critics have warned in opposition to abandoning interpreters and different Afghans who helped the American battle effort, and Biden informed them final week that “there’s a residence for you in the USA in the event you so select.” However his administration has launched few particulars.

Whereas Bush voiced criticism of the withdrawal, some former members of his administration have argued that the choice to depart is overdue.

“I would not say sufficient is sufficient,” retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, who led Bush’s State Division throughout the 9/11 assaults and the start of the US battle in Afghanistan, stated in April. “I might say we have finished all we are able to do. . . . What are these troops being informed they’re there for? It is time to convey it to an finish.”

A ballot taken shortly after Biden introduced the pullout confirmed it to be pretty common. In a Quinnipiac College survey in late Might, 62% of People stated they accredited, whereas 29% disapproved and 9% supplied no opinion.