US democracy effort in Afghanistan unsuccessful, says Hegseth

KABUL (Pajhwok): US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said efforts by the United States to transform Afghan society into a Western-style democracy were unlikely to succeed from the outset.

He made the remarks in a televised interview with CBS News.

He said: “The hubris of ‘we’re going to take Afghanistan and turn it into a Jeffersonian democracy by building Western-style forces and institutions’ was never going to work. I saw it myself and watched it play out. That does not diminish the courage of the Americans who fought there, whom I know personally.”

Referring to the US war with Iran, he added that the conflict was not about rebuilding Iranian society.

kk/sa