Centcom Nominee Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie: Afghan Security Forces' Deaths Unsustainable
Centcom Nominee Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie: Afghan Security Forces' Deaths Unsustainable by Idrees Ali – Reuters
The Pentagon’s pick for the next commander of U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday the high casualty rate of Afghan security forces would not be sustainable even with the stalemate in the fight against Taliban militants.
“Their losses have been very high. They are fighting hard, but their losses are not going to be sustainable unless we correct this problem,” Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
The assessment comes as both Western-backed security forces and the Taliban have pushed to gain momentum as the United States has stepped up efforts to find a peaceful settlement to end the 17-year-long war in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said last month that since 2015 more than 28,000 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed…