John R. Allen
John R. Allen
John R. Allen, AOis a retired United States Marine Corps four-star General, and past Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command, prior to serving as Commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan. On September 13, 2014, President Barack Obama appointed General Allen as Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. He was replaced in that role by Brett H. McGurk on October 23, 2015...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSoldier
Date of Birth15 December 1953
CountryUnited States of America
You know, great powers don't get angry, great powers don't make decisions hastily in a crisis.
Al Qaeda has significance beyond its numbers, frankly. And so for us, our 24-hour-a-day objective is to seek out those al Qaeda cells. And, as we seek them out, to target them and eliminate them. And we're doing that 24 hours a day.
Al Qaeda has come back. Al Qaeda is a resilient organization. But they're not here in large numbers. But al Qaeda doesn't have to be anywhere in large numbers.
And across Afghanistan, every single day, Afghan soldiers, Afghan police and ISAF troops are serving shoulder-to-shoulder in some very difficult situations. And our engagement with them, our shoulder-to-shoulder relationship with them, our conduct of operations with them every single day defines the real relationship.
The best thing I ever did was give my family everything I could.
We don't see that the Taliban ultimately can succeed, and it's a combination both of what the international community can do to support Afghanistan, not just in the short term, but over the long term.