Top U.S. General Expects Civil War in Afghanistan - What It Means for U.S.

The aftermath of President Biden’s failed withdrawal strategy has already led to serious consequences, and now leaders in the Biden Administration are admitting it is probably going to get worse. Recently, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley acknowledged that there will most likely be a civil war in Afghanistan and a resurgence of terrorist organizations in the region.

In an interview with Fox, General Mark Milley spoke on the safety of America after President Biden’s withdrawal of U.S. troops:

"Well, you know this is something that I’ve thought a lot about. And I personally think that my military estimate is that the conditions are likely to develop a civil war. I don’t know if the Taliban is gonna be able to consolidate power and establish governance – they may be, maybe not. . . . But I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war, and that will then in turn lead to conditions that could in fact, lead to reconstitution of al Qaeda or a growth of ISIS or other myriad of terrorist groups."

To make matters worse, not only is terrorism in Afghanistan growing increasingly more dangerous, but it is also becoming an issue in America. As people are fleeing from Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken ensures us they are vetting these people after they arrive in the United States:

"In our effort to get as many people out as fast as we can while we had the airport functioning, we focused on doing just that, and we’re doing accountings on the back end as people arrive in the United States."

Why are we figuring out who these people are after the fact? Are terrorists already in our country? Secretary Blinken is set to answer these questions and face Congress in the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Monday. Hopefully, Congress will hold the Biden Administration accountable for this failure.

ACLJ Senior Military Analyst and retired Colonel Wes Smith explained how the rhetoric from leaders in the Biden Administration is weak and tepid:

"We know that hundreds of people got on the first few planes out of the Afghanistan Kabul airport with absolutely no documentation . . . We do know that in the U.K., when some of the planes landed there, we ground people that were actually on the terror watch list that U.K. officials just happened to catch. This is just one blunder after another. The bottom line is when you listen to Milley, Austin, or Blinken, they are doing wild-eye guessing. They absolutely do not know. It is one misstep after another compounded by their conflicting rhetoric. Part of the reason we do not know as they are now saying is because we do not have the CIA, we closed down the 6 facilities we had in Afghanistan, we have no military there. . . . We are absolutely flying blind. Blinken as well as Austin and Milley represent a Biden Administration that is weak, feckless, and tepid. And they are projecting vacillation and weakness. . . . With the 20th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 just 5 days away, Milley the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not know if terror groups will rise in Afghanistan. . . . He also was asked whether or not U.S. troops would have to go back to counter the terror threat, and he does not know that either. That is not reassuring five days away. We fought the Taliban and al Qaeda for 20 years and last week we didn’t withdraw, we surrendered."

We’ve filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get to the bottom of the failed Afghanistan withdrawal.

Even with this national crisis in Afghanistan, our work doesn’t stop locally. Even in 2021, our First Amendment rights are still at risk.

In a recent example, individuals were utilizing a public place to distribute religious literature and were told by a city employee that such activity was never permitted in public places within the city. We knew distributing religious literature is a protected First Amendment activity, so we took action. ACLJ Senior Counsel Abby Southerland joined Sekulow to discuss this recent religious liberty win:

"The individual that reached out to us was even apologetic and even indicated that she didn’t think this was important for the ACLJ, but that it was important to her. And so, we just ensured her that is what the ACLJ is here to do, that whether it is little or big we are here to defend those First Amendment rights. Many times, all it takes is a phone call or a letter outlining what the law says or requires in order to resolve the matter. And that’s what we were able to do here within a few days of this individual contacting us."

Whether it is trying to save Christians in Afghanistan and get Americans safely back home to America, or it is defending a group of people in a small city to defend their First Amendment rights, the ACLJ is at work both at the domestic and international level. No case is too big or too small, they are all intricate to our mission at the ACLJ.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of the terrorism in Afghanistan and our recent religious liberty win.