MPs raise questions over the BSA with the US\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAustin told lawmakers the mission that U.S. troops had in Afghanistan, to prevent attacks on the American homeland, has \u201cbeen accomplished\u201d and that now the Pentagon\u2019s job is to move people and equipment out of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing forward, in terms of our [counterterrorism] efforts, those CT efforts will be focused on those elements that can possibly conduct attacks against our homeland,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n
When asked if U.S. aircraft would strike in support of Afghan forces to protect cities after the withdrawal, Austin said he would not speculate on \u201cany potential outcomes or any potential future actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to provide support to the Afghan security forces as we retrograde,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce we have completed our retrograde, which will be very difficult to do because our capabilities will have diminished in country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. military is flying intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and combat aircraft from bases in the Persian Gulf area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the capability now to do that,\u201d Austin said. \u201cWhat we are looking for is the ability to shorten the legs going forward by stationing some capability in neighboring countries. That is still a work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
These possible bases have been discussed since President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal in mid-April, though no specifics have been proposed.<\/p>\n
Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth, in testimony before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on June 8, said USAF requested about $10 billion in its 2022 budget for its enduring presence in U.S. Central Command as operations within Afghanistan draw down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a series of air bases, they will stay for the time being, that\u2019s where your over-the-horizon capability will come from,\u201d Roth said.<\/p>\n
Austin said there are still some MQ-9 sorties originating from within the country, but \u201cessentially the vast majority of ISR is being provided from other places outside Afghanistan\u201d to protect U.S. forces as they withdraw.<\/p>\n
Following the withdrawal, the U.S. military intends to \u201cmaintain a good and productive relationship with the Afghans,\u201d including\u00a0continuing funding for the military and supporting the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that support is critical in ensuring that the government retains the ability to function and that the military remains intact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon has sufficient authorities to conduct these missions on \u201ca discrete set of threats,\u201d such as al-Qaeda, Austin said, without naming the Taliban. The U.S. also plans to keep its embassy in Kabul, and the military is working with Afghans on protection for that facility.<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MONITORING (SW) \u2013 US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called Friday for international pressure to force a deal between the Kabul government and the Taliban to end the conflict in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18,5,8,4,6,7],"tags":[12,13,187,618],"class_list":["post-5275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security_","category-peace","category-politics_","category-governance","category-news_","category-afghanistan","category-headline","tag-afghanistan","tag-taliban","tag-us","tag-austin"],"views":521,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}