US military leaders favored keeping troops in Afghanistan

By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — In their first congressional testimony on the tumultuous final months of America’s longest war, top military officials on Tuesday acknowledged misjudging the fragility of Afghanistan’s army and said they believed the U.S. should have kept at least 2,500 troops there to prevent a rapid takeover by the Taliban. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited “a very real possibility” that al-Qaida or the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate could reconstitute in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. And he said that could present a terrorist threat to the United States in the next 12 to 36 months.