Berlin:
Former US president George W. Bush on Wednesday criticised the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan and stated civilians had been becoming left to be “slaughtered” by the Taliban.
“Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. This is a mistake… They’re just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks my heart,” Bush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
The former Republican president, who sent troops to Afghanistan in autumn 2001 just after the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, stated he believed German Chancellor Angela Merkel “feels the same way”.
Bush stated Merkel, who is set to retire from politics later this year just after 16 years in energy, had brought “class and dignity to a very important position and made very hard decisions”.
US and NATO forces started withdrawing from Afghanistan in early May and are due to entirely pull out by September 11, some 20 years just after they arrived in the war-torn nation.
Most of the 2,500 US and 7,500 NATO troops who had been in Afghanistan when US President Joe Biden detailed the final withdrawal in April have now gone, leaving Afghan troops to fight an emboldened Taliban seemingly bent on a military victory.
The nation is facing a crisis as the insurgents snap up territory across the countryside, stretching government forces and major to a fresh wave of internally displaced households, difficult by a renewed outbreak of Covid-19.
The United Nations stated on Sunday the increasing conflict is causing “more suffering” across the violence-wracked nation as it known as for continuous economic help.
Biden has insisted, nevertheless, that it is time for US involvement in the war to finish and for Afghans to chart their personal future.
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