One of the country’s top generals said goodbye Friday as he retires from military service after a turbulent last year as head of Central Command overseeing a chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
General Frank McKenzie said he was proud of how US troops evacuated 124,000 people from Kabul, but he will always be haunted by the suicide bombing that killed 13 US troops and more than 100 Afghans.
In his final briefing with reporters, he also described what he sees as the most dangerous threats to US interests in the Middle East.
Among his successes was a high-profile raid to kill or capture ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019, but he also described how he thinks every day about the soldiers killed in Kabul.
“The collapse of the Afghan government was not the result we wanted when we started the withdrawal,” he said.
“However, the courage and hard work of several thousand military personnel in difficult and dangerous conditions, which allowed the evacuation of 124,000 US partners and Afghan citizens, is something a nation can be very proud of.
“This came at the cost of the deaths of 13 US troops and more than 100 Afghan civilians.
“And this is a loss that I deeply regret. I will regret this for the rest of my life.
“We are indebted to these heroes.”
They died when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near a U.S. checkpoint at Kabul Airport during the last desperate days of the withdrawal.
Gen. Frank McKenzie said he was proud of how US troops evacuated 124,000 people from Kabul, but he would forever be haunted by a suicide attack at the airport.
13 dead soldiers were returned to the US after the Aug. 26 attack on the Kabul airport in the last days of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal of the Marine Corps. David L. Espinoza (left) and Naval Hospital Maxton W. Sowiak (right)
Thousands of Afghans were trying to flee to safety, and the US Marines were checking them one by one when the explosion occurred.
A local branch of the Islamic State, known as ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about last August and the loss of 11 of our Marines, one soldier and one sailor,” McKenzie said.
“I think about it a lot. You go back and always try to find ways you could have done differently.”
But he said the battlefield was a dynamic place.
“We were unable to stop this attack,” he said.
“I don’t know what we could have done to present this particular attack,” he said.
“For those family members who have lost a child or a loved one there. My heart breaks for them and I feel their pain.”
For the past three years, he has led US troops in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. And he took charge of the mission in Afghanistan last year, when the US was phasing out its presence.
One suicide bomber who detonated his explosives as thousands of Afghans filled the Kabul airport in an attempt to flee the Taliban is believed to be responsible.
He mentioned some of the darkest moments in his last comment to reporters.
“And there were days, I’ll tell you, I’d rather have my leg torn off below the knee and then come in there and talk to you guys,” he said via video link.
“But it was important.
He took the opportunity to assess the region under his command and describe the threats to the US.
“Continue to view Iran as the biggest threat to regional security and stability,” he said.
“They are supplying weapons, supporting and directing proxies across the region who engage in terrorist attacks and undermine local governments to advance Iranian interests.
“Iran’s ballistic missile threat continues to advance and expand with greater range and accuracy. CENTCOM continues to watch Iran and its proxies as we act as a deterrent to Iranian attacks on US interests.
These attacks and the threat to American interests were demonstrated last weekend when his missiles hit a US army base and the office of a Kurdish news channel in Erbil, northern Iraq.
Iran’s arsenal was on display over the weekend when rockets hit a US army base and a Kurdish news channel office in Erbil, northern Iraq, in response to an Israeli attack.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled a new Khaibar Buster missile with a range of about 900 miles last month.
Iran later claimed responsibility, saying it orchestrated the attack in retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard last week.
No one was hurt in the attack on Erbil.
Last month, Iran unveiled the latest weapons in its arsenal.
Khaibar-buster, a reference to a Jewish castle captured by Muslim warriors led by the Prophet Muhammad in the early days of Islam, has a range of 900 miles and is powered by solid fuel, according to state media.
McKenzie described Iran’s ballistic arsenal while testifying to the Senate Armed Services Committee for a week.
“They have over 3,000 ballistic missiles of various types, some of which can reach Tel Aviv – to give you an idea of the range,” he said at the time.
“None of them can reach Europe yet, but over the past five to seven years they have invested heavily in their ballistic missile program.
“Their missiles have longer—much longer—range and vastly improved accuracy.”