Republican Senator John McCain has censured the 16-year presence of US military in Afghanistan, saying that Washington’s efforts to restore peace have failed and the goal has been to not lose rather than to win.
McCain made the remarks at a press briefing in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, heading a delegation of bipartisan US senators visiting NATO-coalition headquarters in the war-ravaged country.
“Each of us may describe that concern in our own way but none of us would say that we’re on a course to success here in Afghanistan,” he said. “That needs to change and quickly.”
When asked what winning in Afghanistan would look like, the US Republican senator stopped short of demanding a military defeat of the Taliban militant group and only settled for “an advantage on the battlefield.”
“Winning is getting major areas of the country under control, and working towards some kind of ceasefire with the Taliban,” McCain said….