Tulsi Gabbard criticises US govt leaders over Afghanistan mission

Washington [US], October 4 (ANI): Former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on Sunday criticised senior leaders in the US government and said that they didn't really know what the mission was in Afghanistan.
Gabbard while commenting on the US military's actions in Afghanistan over the last 20 years said, "Our mission to go into Afghanistan, initially to go after Al-Qaeda, the jihadist terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, declared war against us, was justified. We sent special forces in there who very expeditiously and effectively defeated Al-Qaeda."
Further, she explained what went wrong in Afghanistan after the US defeated Al-Qaeda by saying, "When leaders in our country lost sight of that very direct and important mission and instead began to embark on regime change wars and nation-building exercises and as we've seen over the last twenty years in Afghanistan specifically, even senior leaders in our government across Democrat and Republican administrations didn't really know what our mission there was."
Gabbard even said that the US "can't and shouldn't try to be the world's police."
"We, the American people, our natural instinct is to want to help others, to want to protect them, to do what we can to keep them safe. The harsh reality, however, is that we as the United States, we can't and shouldn't try to be the world's police," she said.
She highlighted that even with the 'best of intentions, efforts by the US have caused suffering for the people in these countries in the short term and the long term.
"We can't and shouldn't try to export American values and create many Americas in countries around the world because we've seen how, even with the best of intentions, these efforts throughout time have proven to actually cause more suffering and problems for the people in these countries in the short term and the long term," she added.
In August, Gabbard expressed grief over lives lost in the recent blasts in Kabul, including those of 13 American troops.
More than a month after the US drawdown from Afghanistan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said that United States' 20-year military presence in the country was their strategic failure.
The US troops left Afghanistan on August 31 under the previously agreed Doha deal with the Taliban last year.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan last month and announced its interim government earlier in September. (ANI)