Retired Gen. David Petraeus, who led U.S. forces in Afghanistan under the Obama administration, said on Monday the outcome of the war there is “catastrophic,” after the Taliban took control of the capital city of Kabul.
Petraeus, when asked by NBC’s Lester Holt if the U.S. just lost the war in Afghanistan, said the situation unfolding in the region is “heartbreaking” and “tragic.”
“I do think there were alternative approaches, options that we in fact should have considered. I’ve counseled those for many years,” continued Petraeus, who also previously served as the director of the CIA and the commander of U.S. Central Command, both under former President Obama.
He then turned the conversation to the people still trapped in Afghanistan.
“But we are where we are now and I think what’s most important at this moment in time is to realize that there are many that we have so far left behind. And we must do everything we can with all the resources available to us to ensure that we meet the moral obligation to them,” Petraeus said.
Petraeus’s comments come one day after the Taliban overran Kabul, the capital city in Afghanistan, the last major city to fall amid the insurgent group’s increased offensive.
The Taliban ramped up its efforts as the U.S. inched closer to completing its troop withdrawal mission, which President Biden previously said would be done by the end of this month.
Biden defended his decision to pull troops from the region during an address to the nation on Monday, contending that the U.S. completed its goals for entering Afghanistan, including capturing the individuals who attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001, and ensuring that al Qaeda could not use Afghanistan as a base where it could plan a subsequent attack against the U.S.
“We did that. We severely degraded al Qaeda in Afghanistan. We never gave up the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and we got him,” Biden said.
“That was a decade ago. Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified centralized democracy. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland,” he added.
“I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden later added.
The full Petraeus interview is set to air Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC Nightly News.