George W. Bush calls US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan ‘a mistake’ [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Former President George W. Bush said that the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan was a “mistake.”
• He was concerned for the Afghan women, children, and other civilians because of the Taliban forces.
• President Joe Biden defended the move last week, saying that the US did not go to Afghanistan to commit nation building.

In an interview released Wednesday, former President George W. Bush said that the US troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan was a “mistake” as he knew the perils for children, Afghan women, and other civilians amid the presence of the Taliban.

“I’m afraid Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm,” Bush told German  state broadcaster Deutsche Welle from his house in Maine.

Bush launched the war in Afghanistan following the infamous 9/11 attack during his first year in the presidency in a bid to fight the terrorist group al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the nation. It was the longest war the US had engaged in, starting 2001, which will formally end by August 31 after President Joe Biden announced the official departure of US troops.

With the US military withdrawal, Bush noted that he is scared for Afghan women and that he will also be concerned about those people who helped the US and NATO troops during the nearly two decades of armed conflict.

“I think about all the interpreters and people that helped not only U.S. troops, but NATO troops and they’re just, it seems like they’re just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks my heart.”

Since the US withdrawal announcement, the Taliban has been moving to gain control of Afghanistan districts and other key areas. As of the present, they already have control across the northern part of the country and are already coming to Kabul.

Last week, Biden defended the troops withdrawal, arguing that the US did not go to Afghanistan to “nation build.”

“It’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country,” the incumbent president said.

Source: AOL.com