. @CENTCOM's General McKenzie held a @DeptofDefense press briefing yesterday following his congressional testimony.

Lots of topics covered, but see the below THREAD for Afghanistan-related highlights and some commentary from me.

Transcript here: https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/2582980/general-kenneth-f-mckenzie-jr-commander-us-central-command-holds-a-press-briefi/

--General McKenzie reiterated that "over-the-horizon counterterrorism operations...will be harder..."

--Planning for how to do that is not done.

--After we leave, it'll be "more difficult" to support the Afghan military.

Comment: Nominee for understatement of the year award.

--Intend to remove US contractors too. That will create maintenance challenges for Afghan forces.

--McKenzie: "Taliban have never stopped fighting...and the pace of their attacks has been as high as any during the entire history of our war in Afghanistan."

--"Afghan soldiers, and policemen, and other security people are fighting and dying everyday in significant numbers -- 30 to 50 a day, sometimes more a day."

Comment: Remember that next time you hear a remark that the Afghan govt or security forces are part of the problem.

--"...if you're talking about Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, we have no significant basing agreements with any of those countries right now."

--Can use bases in Gulf for CT, but "[t]he ranges are significantly greater to get into Afghanistan."

--He said CENTCOM could help with with backlog for special immigrant visas for translators.

Comment: We have a moral responsibility to help those Afghans who have helped us. If we don't, many of them & their families will be in increased danger after we leave.

@SenatorShaheen

--"I think al Qaeda and ISIS will be able to regenerate if pressure is not kept on them."

Comment: And we are about to massively reduce that pressure.

--Afghan "peace negotiations" are "sort of deadlocked at least in the short term."

Comment: No surprise there.

--Great question from @dandeluce to Gen. McKenzie on whether "the U.S. accomplished what it set out to do" in Afghanistan.

McKenzie's answer to Dan contains some essential truths Americans need to appreciate so I have pasted a large portion of Gen McKenzie's response below.

McKenzie: "I think that we have accomplished the mission that we set out to do, which was to prevent an attack against the United States. That mission has been accomplished..."

But...

McKenzie: "...we will find ways to continue to execute that mission even as we leave Afghanistan, because the war will not end in Afghanistan, as you know simply because we leave. The threats to the United States won't end simply because we leave..."

@CliffordDMay @FDD

Comment: Those are the essential two facts to understand about Biden's ill-advised Afghanistan withdrawal. American forces, along with our coalition partners & the Afghans HAVE helped prevent another 9/11 attack for 20 years, BUT the threats to the US in Afghanistan persist!

That was my essential point in my @washingtonpost piece on Saturday.

Mission accomplished SO FAR, but not over.

In light of General McKenzie's comments yesterday, looks like the editors made a good call on the title for my piece...

@dandeluce https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/04/17/biden-afghanistan-troops-taliban-al-qaeda/