DM Monitoring
KABUL: The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan stepped down from the post Monday, marking a symbolic end to the American role in the war as Taliban militants continue to rout government forces and take territory across the country. Army Gen. Scott Miller, the longest serving of all the commanders who have led forces over the nearly 20-year conflict, relinquished command at an event at the military headquarters in Kabul attended by the few U.S. military and other U.S. officials still here.
The military’s role doesn’t technically end until Aug. 31, and will endure past that date indefinitely, albeit in a more limited fashion, officials have said.
The White House is still determining what the U.S. role will be and if and when it would conduct airstrikes to support the Afghan government or strike terrorism targets. For today, however, Gen. Miller briefly reminded the audience of Afghan government and U.S. officials and the small contingent of U.S. personnel who still remain of the alliance that quickly formed following the attacks of Sept. 11.
“I know what it meant in 2001, when nations came together to Afghanistan, and why they came together, and that’s something that’s important to never forget,” he said beneath a stand of pines that front the Resolute Support military command at the U.S. base.
Gen. Miller has been replaced by the head of U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, who will oversee the war effort from his headquarters in Tampa, Fla. Other senior officers have been appointed to manage operations from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and from al-Udeid air base in Qatar, 2,200 miles away. They will work for Gen. McKenzie, who flew here Monday for the event under tight security protocols.
Since President Biden said in April that the U.S. role in combat operations would end, the military under Gen. Miller moved quickly to withdraw its roughly 3,500 troops, thousands of American and third-country contractors, and military equipment, weaponry and other gear. The departure of forces and equipment has deprived the Afghan government forces of much of the support on which they have come to rely as they face what officials say is an existential fight with the Taliban.
With the closure of Bagram Air Field north of Kabul earlier this month, the military suspended all operations and handed the base over to the Afghans abruptly in the middle of the night. That set the stage for the closure of the headquarters complex in Kabul, which will become part of the U.S. Embassy compound for now, officials said.
The accelerated withdrawal and the unanswered questions about how the U.S. will support the government and Afghan military contributed to a significant unraveling of security. With the American military support largely gone, the Afghan government forces have struggled to counter a Taliban that has aggressively begun taking over districts and has threatened provincial capitals across the country.
Security has deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks, with the Taliban taking over two important border checkpoints, in Kunduz Province in the north with the Afghanistan border with Tajikistan, and in Herat Province with the border of Iran. Taliban control of those two points significantly boosts the militant group’s revenue and deprives the Afghan government of the same funding stream. The Taliban currently controls more than 180 districts across the country, as Afghan forces defend critical districts and provincial capitals.
So far, the group’s attempts to take over a provincial capital have been unsuccessful, officials said. An attack on Qala-e-Naw, the capital of the northwestern province of Badghis, was repelled by Afghan commandos and other government forces, officials said.
