DM Monitoring
KABUL: Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command said he will make recommendations to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in early June on how to monitor and fight “terrorist groups” in Afghanistan from beyond its borders after troops withdrawal.
Gen. McKenzie said negotiations with Afghanistan’s neighbors for overflight rights and troop basing are “moving forward” but will take time, the report said. As a result, he said, the way the United States keeps an eye on the terrorist threat and aids the Afghan military will evolve as agreements are reached or security conditions on the ground change.
He cautioned that this will be a “taxing time” for the Afghan military and “the risk is high.” Speaking to reporters from The Associated Press and ABC News traveling with him to the Middle East, McKenzie declined to provide details about the recommendations he will make to Austin. He said he will also provide cost estimates for keeping surveillance aircraft over Afghanistan regularly enough to keep track of terrorist groups after the US pullout is completed no later than Sept. 11.
McKenzie has made it clear that without any bases in neighboring countries, it will require far more aircraft to keep watch over Afghanistan because they will have to fly for four hours to six hours from other US military installations in the Middle East. The flight distance severely limits the amount of time the aircraft can spend in the air over Afghanistan.
This comes as eleven members of the US House of Representatives–10 Democrats and one Republican–wrote a letter to President Joe Biden on the “enduring interests and ideals that should continue to guide US efforts in Afghanistan even as the armed forces end their mission in the country” amid the start of the withdrawal of American troops from the country. The letter was signed by US Reps. Tom Malinowski (D), Jim Langevin (D), Mike Waltz (R), Stephanie Murphy (D), William R. Keating (D), Chrissy Houlahan (D), Colin Allred (D), Dean Phillips (D), David Cicilline (D), Gerald E. Connolly (D) and Bill Foster (D).
The withdrawal of the US military, which began on May 1 and is scheduled to continue until Sept. 11, 2021, has raised concerns over the future of Afghanistan, especially gains achieved in women’s rights, girls’ education and the growth of civil society, which includes a free media. The lawmakers said they hope President Biden will continue to make clear that “America’s policy in Afghanistan is to ensure the survival and success of that government and of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and to stand by those Afghans who bet their lives on the future the US promised them.”
