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Afghan official says security forces can hold their own against Taliban if US troops withdraw March 14 Afghan Interior Minister Masoud Andarabi speaks during an interview to the Associated Press at the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul, Afghanistan, March. 13, 2021. (Rahmat Gul/AP) KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s interior minister said Saturday that Afghan security forces can hold their ground even if U.S. troops withdraw, challenging a warning from the United States predicting a withdrawal would yield quick territorial gains to the Taliban. Masoud Andarabi’s comments in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press were the first government reaction to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s warning issued in a sharply worded letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last weekend.
nato troops handing over security to afghanistan national security forces in kabul and violence is still raging in the country and we're just learning of a major gunbattle that left 80 militants dead, are afghan forces really ready to take the lead? here now, fox news military analyst who just returned from 12 days in afghanistan, retired army four star general, jack keane. general, hi, how are you? >> nice to see you, jamie. >> jamie: welcome back, what did you learn? what do you think? how optimistic are you afghan forces are ready to take the lead? >> i spent a lot of time on this and the afghan security forces and particularly the army are making significant process in terms of the quality of their performance, but, numbers truly make a difference. and, they are going, the entire security force is going to 352,000 and that will make a difference. we have handed the taliban a tactical defeat in the south, as
>> jamie: let's talk about a new milestone in afghanistan today, nato troops handing over security to afghanistan national security forces in kabul and violence is still raging in the country and we're just learning of a major gunbattle that left 80 militants dead, are afghan forces really ready to take the lead? here now, fox news military analyst who just returned from 12 days in afghanistan, retired army four star general, jack keane. general, hi, how are you? >> nice to see you, jamie. >> jamie: welcome back, what did you learn? what do you think? how optimistic are you afghan forces are ready to take the lead? >> i spent a lot of time on this and the afghan security forces and particularly the army are making significant process in terms of the quality of their performance, but, numbers truly make a difference. and, they are going, the entire security force is going to
with tension and conflict and at times unfriendly but the fact is, general petraeus and scar -- karzai have worked out a good relationship and this will not diminish that relationship. we are dealing with karzai, in private, not in public, not trying to leak, as we were in the past, and we will be able to move forward. there will still be frustration between us and the karzai government, but i think we have a much more common footing than in the past. >>shepard: you say we need to move forward, move forward toward what as a goal exactly? >>guest: stability and security in afghanistan to turn over that security issue to the afghanistan national security forces and we can pull our forces out of there. that is what we are trying to achieve. having done an assessment for general petraeus in september that goal is achievable. >>shepard: a few facts sort of lead many to question if that is
requirement for additional trainers. chairman levin talked at considerable length two weeks ago as we worked our way through the numbers at what the requirement is, what has been put on the ground, what is pledged and what is still out there as a requirement. and i will state to our nato partners the importance of filling, in particular, those trainer and mentor billets because that's all about the development of the afghanistan national security forces. jon: general david petraeus the man who he helped turn around the war in iraq is now being asked to turn around the war in gans, the 130 surge forces that outgoing general mcchrystal had asked for are just there in position now. let's talk about it with republican senator from south dakota john thoon. he has been good enough to step