Former US President George W Bush on Wednesday criticized the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan and said civilians were being left to “slaughter” by the Taliban.
Bush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, “I fear that unspeakable harm is going to happen to Afghan women and girls… they will be left behind to be killed by these very cruel people, and it breaks my heart.”
Asked if he thought the withdrawal was a mistake, Bush replied: “Yes, I think it is.”
“I have spent a lot of time with Afghan women and they are scared. And I think about all the interpreters and people who help not only American soldiers but NATO soldiers.”
The former Republican president, who sent troops to Afghanistan in the autumn of 2001 after the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, said he believed German Chancellor Angela Merkel “feels the same”.
Bush said Merkel, who is due to retire from politics later this year after 16 years in power, had “brought class and dignity to a very important position and made very difficult decisions”.
He recalled talking to Merkel about her childhood in former East Germany.
He said it was “wonderful” to talk to someone who was “stuck in a closed society” when he was young, but had become “the chancellor of a democratic free country”.
US and NATO forces began withdrawing from Afghanistan in early May and are due to withdraw completely by September 11, nearly 20 years after their arrival.
Most of the 2,500 American and 7,500 NATO troops who were in Afghanistan when US President Joe Biden detailed the final withdrawal in April, now Afghan troops have been left to fight the Taliban, bowing out on a military victory.
The country is facing a crisis as rebels have seized areas across the country, pulling out government forces and forcing many people to flee their homes.
The United Nations said on Sunday that escalating conflict in the violence-hit country is causing “greater pain” as it called for continued financial aid.
Biden, however, has insisted that the time has come to end US involvement in the war and for Afghans to decide their own future.
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