Afghan pullout may have prompted Ukraine invasion

KABUL (Pajhwok): America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan may have contributed to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, suggests a top US military official.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley made the comments during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week.

Asked if the US pullout from Afghanistan prompted Putin to order the invasion of Ukraine, Milley said: “From the intelligence I’ve read, it’s not clear. I think it certainly is possible, but I also know that Putin had aims on Ukraine long before the end of the war in Afghanistan.”

Gen. Milley, according to The Washington Examiner, had told Congress behind closed doors in early February that the Ukrainian capital could be seized by Russia within 72 hours of a full-scale invasion.

The newspaper reported that Milley, President Joe Biden, and the rest of the administration apparently misjudged the strength and the willpower of the Afghan army before the Taliban’s takeover.

PAN Monitor/mud