3:03
- ABC News
- June 28, 2021
Inside look at US troop pullout from Afghanistan
ABC News' Martha Raddatz interviews the top general directing the withdrawal.
3:03
The pace of the operations at Bagram has been eye-opening for the experienced logistics officers in charge of the operation.
\"It's a little surreal to see things very bare and empty,\" said Col. Erin Miller, a logistics officer overseeing the withdrawal. \"And as we continue to move forward with the retrograde, seeing the equipment leave out, it truly is surreal.\"
Maintaining security
With all the billions of dollars the United States has invested in training and equipping Afghanistan's security forces, it will be up to them to maintain security.
\"What we've said is this is Afghanistan, this is their country,\" said Miller. \"The Afghan security forces have to hold.\"
The U.S. military will continue to provide Afghan forces with financial support and continued assistance for Afghan air force maintenance crews, but as the U.S. completes its withdrawal, there will not be a physical U.S. military presence in Afghanistan aside from the hundreds of personnel who will be stationed at the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Americans will also continue to fly \"over-the-horizon\" reconnaissance missions and counterterrorism missions from countries in the Persian Gulf area focused on al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, not the Taliban.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/bagram-1-abc-er-210628_1624907360123_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
While the U.S. is continuing to provide defensive airstrikes in support of Afghan ground troops during the withdrawal, U.S. Central Command's Gen. Frank McKenzie has indicated that airstrikes later will only be directed against the two terror groups if they are planning to attack the American homeland or allies.
Miller praised the effectiveness of Afghanistan's Air Force but indicated that the possibility of U.S. defensive airstrikes in the future will continue \"to be discussed as we move forward.\"
\"I think we need to see how that how that lands,\" he told Raddatz.
Top U.S. general directing the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan acknowledged in an exclusive interview with @MarthaRaddatz that the security situation in the country is \"not good\" and the Taliban's push to seize parts of the country is \"concerning.\" https://t.co/CMoaGH00FV pic.twitter.com/12DdA4QHT7
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) June 28, 2021
The withdrawal in Afghanistan after an almost 20-year presence has drawn comparisons to the 2011 U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, which created a security vacuum that led to the rise of ISIS and the eventual return of U.S. forces in 2014.
\"Do you think about Iraq when we're leaving here and what happened in Iraq when we left?” Raddatz asked Miller.
“Absolutely, I mean that's on everybody's mind,\" said Miller. \"These are judgments that we have to make balanced against our national interests.\"
Friends in need
Miller first served in Afghanistan in December, 2001 as a special operations commander and has deployed at least eight other times to Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations.
As he prepares to leave Afghanistan for the final time Miller described mixed feelings both professionally and personally.
\"On the professional side, what you're seeing is a -- what I would call -- a historic retrograde being done under at least the threat of conflict,\" said Miller. \"So far, it has not been contested, at least to date. So you see that and you know the goodness that's taking place there, watching our service members as well as our allies doing this as professionally as possible.\"
He said that after 20 years he has developed friends in Afghanistan, but \"I don't like leaving friends in need and I know my friends are in need.\"
\"As we continue to move down the retrograde and withdraw forces, there's less and less I can directly offer them in terms of assistance,\" he said. \"So that's hard.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/afghanistan-2-abc-er-210628_1624902778334_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
For example, he said Afghan Defense Minister Mohammadi has asked him occasionally for some type of assistance -- provided in years past -- and \"there's points where I have to tell him I won't be able to do that.\"
\"It's a tough, tough business, it is tough,\" said Miller.
\"We knew we were going to have to leave at some point,\" he continued. \" I don't know that you could find a right time, but so know what you are trying to do is, as you depart, ensure that the security assistance that can continue does continue; that you keep those lines open. So even as we discuss -- we call it ‘departure’ -- it doesn't mean a full break of the relationship.\"
Gen. Haibatullah Alizai, the commander of the Afghan Army's Special Operations Command acknowledged that there will be challenges ahead for Afghanistan's military, but he expressed confidence that his forces and Afghanistan will be able to endure after all U.S. troops have left Afghanistan.
\"Absolutely, we will survive,\" said Alizai. \"Afghanistan will survive.\"
\"We have learned a lot from our friends and partners in the last two decades,\" he said. \"Based on those lessons we are going to expand and extend and make our army great to make Afghanistan keep the situation in Afghanistan the same or better than today. \"
\"I'm really optimistic about this and we are really committed to this fight against terrorism and to keep Afghanistan safe for the future,\" said Alizai.
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