TAMPA (WFLA) – Retired U.S. Army Colonel Scott Mann served three tours in Afghanistan as a Green Beret.
Mann has written a book called “Game Changers” about working with locals to combat violent extremists. It’s the people Mann lived and worked within Afghanistan that he’s now concerned about.
“It’s beyond frustrating, it’s heartbreaking to see friends who we served with on the run, literally on the run from house to house or trying to flag down airplanes to get out of there,” said Mann.
He says without the help of the local residents, the United States would not have had any success during twenty years of war in Afghanistan.
“I can speak from my journey as a Green Beret, I worked very, very closely, as we do with Afghans. We work hand and hand with indigenous people, locals,” said Mann.
Now Mann believes the people who helped him and others in the U.S. Military will be targeted as the Taliban takes over.
“They’re going to go after anyone who was affiliated or worked with the United States or Coalition forces. That is translators, cultural advisors, those people are at extreme risk right now,” said Mann.
President Joe Biden said Monday that he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan and that the Afghan government’s collapse was quicker than anticipated.
Biden said he’d rather take the criticism over the fallout in Afghanistan than leave the decision to another president. He said the decision to leave Afghanistan is “the right one for America.”