JOSEPH VOTEL is the man who on the night of 19 October 2001 directed one of the first and most important military operations that started the war in Afghanistan, Operation Rihno: about 200 special forces men landed in the middle of the night in the Registan desert, a hundred miles from Kandahar, to secure the site that would become the first US military base in the country for Operation Enduring Freedom.
It’s been 20 years, America leaves Afghanistan to a weak government besieged by stronger and stronger Taliban. “I am not sure if this is the time to leave, we have not facilitated the political process of reconciliation and over time I believe there is a risk that Afghanistan will once again be a safe haven for terrorist groups,” says General Votel. who in all this time led the main elite corps of the US military, including the US Special Operations Command, and from 2016 to 2019 headed Centcom, the command that is responsible for all operations in the Middle East. Today Votel is retired, but he continues to deal with what is happening in the Middle East even as a specialist at the Middle East Institute.
General Votel, President Biden announced the US withdrawal from Afghanistan by 11 September. Has the United States completed its mission? Do you think this is the right time to leave the country?
Our activity in Afghanistan has certainly prevented attacks at home and in our allied countries, we have been successful in dismantling al Qaeda, in reducing the operational capacity of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and in the region. From this perspective we have been successful. But we have not been able to achieve and facilitate a political reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government which was one of the goals that President Trump had set himself. I’m not sure this is the right time to leave. I am concerned that the Afghan government and Afghan forces remain vulnerable to the Taliban and other forces that could regroup in the absence of US troops and the international coalition. From this point of view I think we should have stayed longer.
The US withdrawal is unconditional, which means that the Taliban also have the freedom not to engage in any dialogue with the Afghan government. With these premises, is a true peace process possible?
I believe that unconditional withdrawal will make it harder to achieve some kind of political reconciliation. We give up our leverage over the Taliban to force them to sit down and be a constructive political actor.
There is a lot of talk about the peace process, but as we talk about it there is fighting in over 20 provinces of Afghanistan. In the first months of the year there were more than 1,700 deaths: is there a risk that the Taliban overwhelm the Afghan army and reach the capital Kabul?
I state that there are Afghan forces well trained by the Coalition, they have good fighters, proud and capable. But there is a possibility that over time the Taliban could overwhelm the Afghan army and lead the fighting to Kabul. Not immediately but over time the risk is there.
In February Edmund Fitton-Brown, the coordinator of the UN working group that monitors the activity of Taliban and terrorist groups in Afghanistan, said that the Afghan Taliban has maintained a close relationship with Al Qaeda despite pledging to quit. to cooperate with terrorist groups. Is there a risk that Afghanistan will once again become an operational platform for international terrorism?
Yes, I believe there is, and that this is one of the main concerns that have been raised. We have already seen this in Iraq in 2011, when we left the country. At that time Al Qaeda in Iraq was at a very low level of activity, within a couple of years we had ISIS that came out of the ranks of Al Qaeda. Not keeping the pressure on these extremist organizations allows them to regroup and return to using Afghanistan as a safe haven for their operations.
Critics of the withdrawal say it will not leave any US counter-terrorism capabilities on the ground. Is it possible to do counter-terrorism without troops on the ground?
It is possible but very difficult when operating from other areas.
Over two decades, American forces have worked side by side with hundreds of Afghans – from interpreters to teachers – who now fear for their lives and feel abandoned. What can and should the United States do for these people who have demonstrated their loyalty to America?
We absolutely must support the special visa program we have in the United States to give all those who have supported us, especially those who have served the US military, the opportunity to come to the United States and we must extend these visas to their families. They put their lives at risk for our interests and I think we need to protect them, secure them. I am absolutely convinced that this is a moral responsibility for the United States.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan is part of a broader shift in US policies in South Asia and the Middle East. Is the Middle East no longer a strategic region for America?
I think this is a miscalculation. The Middle East remains a very important region for the United States, we still have a lot of interests there. We want to protect ourselves from the attacks of violent terrorism, we want to continue to guarantee freedom of trade in the region, to avoid a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to avoid instability in that area which would also impact on other areas. From a strategic point of view, the United States is focused on competing with China but in the Middle East we still have many interests. And we need the people there to see the United States as a reliable partner.
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