Former President Trump slammed President Biden’s grossly inept surrender in Afghanistan after the White House blamed his exit schedule for the instability.
Trump called them “morons” who are systematically destroying America.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, defended the Biden administration’s conduct in Kabul during the disastrous retreat, claiming the administration was “proud” of how US soldiers carried out the departure.
Republicans mirrored Trump’s criticism of the study, with Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul blaming Biden for enormous planning and execution failures.
Rep. Mike Rogers of the Armed Services Committee termed the public after-action report a spineless piece of fiction, and Rep. James Comer of the Oversight Committee announced a new hearing with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his ‘proudness’ of US servicemembers. The White House paper described the pullout decision-making process as “deliberate, focused, rigorous, and inclusive.” Trump reduced the number of soldiers from 8,600 in June 2020 to 4,500 in September 2020, with just 2,500 remaining when he left office.
Donald Trump authorized direct discussions with the Taliban without consulting friends or allowing the Afghan government to participate in the negotiations. Obama also encouraged the Taliban by openly contemplating inviting them to Camp David on 9/11.
The Biden White House was following a Trump White House directive to evacuate troops by the summer of 2021, but they had “no preparations” for how to do it. The episode taught the White House to communicate early and aggressively about security dangers to Americans and friends who may want to depart.
In anticipation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, John Kirby issued a memo revealing the amount of money the US provided to the Afghan military and police. Republicans were outraged, with former President Donald Trump accusing the White House of playing a “disinformation game” and Nikki Haley labeling it “chaos.”
The US handed the Afghan military and police $85 billion in total, and a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction claimed that the Pentagon informed the organization that $7.2 billion in planes, firearms, trucks, ammunition, and specialist equipment remained.
