Ex-US CENTCOM chief admits US failure in Afghanistan

Former US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander General Frank McKenzie has stated that Pakistan was correct about the United States not staying in Afghanistan.

In an interview on Friday with NBC, McKenzie admitted the US failed in Afghanistan and that Washington had failed at nation-building as it had insisted on a Western model.

He said, “I don’t know that Afghanistan is governable or sustainable with a Western model. I know that Afghanistan is governable and sustainable from an Afghan model. But we paid too little attention to Afghan realities on the ground.”

McKenzie said: “Pakistanis never believed that we would stay; they always thought that we would leave.”

“And you know what? They were right, we left.”

He also said Afghanistan had been a political failure for four US administrations over a period of twenty years and added that it includes “military and diplomatic failures.”

He also emphasized that it is still too early to predict what will happen in Afghanistan but that the country continues to be a breeding ground for threats against the US.