The clumsy US withdrawal from Afghanistan encouraged Russia and China to pursue their imperialist plans, according to former acting defense secretary Christopher Miller.
In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, the former Pentagon chief said the American withdrawal from the war-torn nation exposed the US government as weak and opened the space for the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
“It was an absolute debacle, I’m still angry about it,” he explained. “It didn’t need to end that way. It shouldn’t have ended that way.
The Biden administration was accused of botching the 2021 withdrawal, which led to the Taliban quickly taking over Afghanistan.
Adding that he found it hard to imagine how the withdrawal happened the way that it did, Miller called for accountability for those behind the decision.
Biden’s decision to completely withdraw undid 20 years of work and people’s lives, according to his critics, who also say it opened up the likelihood of a humanitarian crisis and damaged US credibility.
“The debacle was completely preventable. We totally showed our belly. Who advised the president to do that? Any military person should have known that wasn’t gonna work,” he said.
“Total credit to the young people we sent over there to help with the evacuation. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the decision that we would abandon the Afghans.
Miller theorized that both Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jingping watched the withdrawal from Afghanistan and deduced they wouldn’t face much pushback if they invaded another nation.
He told The U.S. Sun: “I’m extremely confident that when they break open the Putin archives in 50 years and they break open the Chinese Communist Party archives in 50 years, when you look at their notes from their National Security Council meetings, it’s gonna be pretty clear that they saw weakness and exploited it aggressively.
“You saw the Chinese just really got aggressive towards Taiwan right and I think probably Putin saw that as an example of American fickleness and [believed] he could make a move on Ukraine.
While Miller claimed the Afghanistan withdrawal emboldened Russia’s and China’s imperialist hopes, he added that he believes the biggest threat Americans face is unbridled spending.
He detailed what he sees as the biggest danger to Americans’ way of life, and what he believes the government should be focused on instead.
While most Americans would probably say a potential war with Russia or China is the biggest security concern for the West, Miller said it is actually American spending that threatens our future.
“I don’t think China is the biggest threat to our way of life. I think it’s unbridled spending that’s gonna bankrupt America and drive us into economic ruin if we don’t get our deficits under control,” Miller told The U.S. Sun.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.
Source : The U.S. Sun
