Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis criticized military leaders whom he said were “unwilling to face the reality” of problems that persisted in Afghanistan even before the U.S. withdrew its forces from the country and the Taliban took over Kabul in August.
“The core issue here is the unwillingness of our senior leaders, over more than a decade, to be square and honest with the American people,” retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis said on Hill.TV on Thursday.
Davis went on to say how leaders of various ranks “continued to say that things were making progress.”
“We’re doing good things. The Afghan government is making strides. We’re getting corruption under control,” Davis said of the leadership’s messaging to the American public. “None of it was ever true. I came out in 2012 while still in uniform and expressly said it wasn’t true.”
“When the end came and you have these same leaders acting surprised and like no one saw this coming, well, that’s only because you were unwilling to face the reality that was always on the ground, and now you see the wreckage of all the lives that are just shattered,” Davis also said.
Davis added that it was “tragic” that Afghanistan was back under the control of the Taliban.
His comments come after the Taliban gained control over Kabul in August for the first time in two decades amid a chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Since then, some Afghans, especially women and girls, have struggled under the Taliban’s rule.
“Lacking a legitimate Afghan government and military forces to protect them, women and girls are now suffering the predations of a Taliban regime with a track record of brutalizing, isolating, and denying them life and liberty,” a letter signed by all 24 female U.S. senators said last week.
The letter urged the Biden administration to develop a plan to preserve the basic human rights of Afghan women and girls.
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