{"id":63809,"date":"2021-10-05T19:44:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T19:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/10\/05\/former-administration-officials-argue-over-whether-keeping-us-troops-in-afghanistan-would-have-helped\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:10:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:10:52","slug":"former-administration-officials-argue-over-whether-keeping-us-troops-in-afghanistan-would-have-helped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/10\/05\/former-administration-officials-argue-over-whether-keeping-us-troops-in-afghanistan-would-have-helped\/","title":{"rendered":"Former administration officials argue over whether keeping US troops in Afghanistan would have helped"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan<\/a> testified Tuesday that the U.S. could have kept that country stable and secure for years to come, but only if they increased the permanent American military presence there<\/a> to about 5,000 troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are conflicts that cannot be won in a classical sense, but can be managed. And that is where I think we were in Afghanistan,\u201d said Ryan Crocker, who served in the ambassador post under President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe threw away a chance to further ensure the security of our homeland, and global security, with a very modest force there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crocker\u2019s comment came at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, ending the nearly 20-year American military presence there.<\/p>\n\n\n\t