Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Says U.S. ‘Failed to Grasp’ How Quickly Afghanistan Would Submit to Taliban: We Couldn’t Give Them ‘Will to Win’

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin defended the Biden administration’s handling of Afghanistan while blaming their government’s weakness for the nation’s fall to the Taliban.

Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley appeared before the Senate Armed Service Committee on Tuesday to testify on how the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated as the United States moved to withdraw forces from the country. In his opening statement, Austin defended the tactical decisions from the withdrawal as he stood by his view that “extending beyond the end of August would have greatly imperiled our people and our mission.”

“The Taliban made clear that their cooperation would end on the first of September,” he said. “We face grave and growing threats from ISIS-K. Staying longer that we did would have made it even more dangerous for our people. It would not have significantly changed the number of evacuees we could get out.”

From there, Austin moved to question whether the U.S.’ efforts to reinforce Afghanistan over the last 20 years were truly effective. He said that it “took us all by surprise” when Afghanistan’s military stood by as the Taliban seized control over the country, and now “we need to consider some uncomfortable truths.”

We didn’t fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in the senior ranks. That we didn’t grasp the damaging effect of frequent and unexplained rotations by President Ghani of his commanders. That we didn’t anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that the Taliban commander struck with local leaders in the wake of Doha agreement. And that the Doha agreement itself had a demoralizing effect on Afghan soldiers. And finally, that we failed to grasp that there was only so much for which, and for whom, many of the Afghan forces would fight.

While Austin commended the bravery of Afghan soldiers and police figures who died trying to protect their country, “in the end, we couldn’t provide them with the will to win. At least, not all of them.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.