Hillary Clinton warns of ‘huge consequences’ once troops withdraw

Hillary Clinton has for the first time publicly voiced her disapproval with US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday night, Clinton said the US should be prepared for “two huge consequences”.

The first, she said, is a collapse of the Afghan government and Taliban takeover, and the second would be an outpouring of refugees should civil war break out.

Her comments came just a day after the US officially launched its final withdrawal of about 2,500 troops from Afghanistan.

CNN also reported that Clinton reportedly appeared before Congress on Friday to warn against the withdrawal.

Clinton, the former US secretary of state, voiced her concerns to CNN a day after the US formally passed control of Camp Antonik in the southern Helmand province to Afghan forces on Saturday.

But explaining the two consequences she foresaw to CNN, Clinton said: “One, the potential collapse of the Afghan government and a takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, probably with a resumption of civil war in certain parts of the country, but a largely Taliban-run government at some point in the not-too-distant future.

“How do we help and protect the many, many thousands of Afghans who worked with the United States and NATO, who worked with American and other NATO-connected contractors who stood up and spoke out for women’s rights and human rights,” she asked.

“I hope that the administration in concert with the Congress will have a very large visa program and will begin immediately to try to provide that channel for so many Afghans to utilize so that they are not left in danger.

“There will also be, I fear, a huge refugee outflow. And of course, the second big set of problems revolves around a resumption of activities by global terrorist groups, most particularly al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (Daesh).”

She said: “It’s one thing to pull out troops that have been supporting security in Afghanistan, supporting the Afghan military, leaving it pretty much to fend for itself, but we can’t afford to walk away from the consequences of that decision.”

As secretary of state in the Obama administration, Clinton supported a surge of 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan to counter gains made in the country by the Taliban.

Clinton was also a fierce supporter of regime change in Libya.

Rice was the chief foreign policy adviser to Bush, and the architect of the American “war on terror” after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.