Former Trump national security adviser HR McMaster told CNN on Monday that part of the blame for the botched U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan rests on former President Trump’s shoulders.
McMaster, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, told news anchor Anderson Cooper that the former president’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan during negotiations with Taliban leaders set the stage for the slanderous U.S. withdrawal from the country under the Biden administration, which resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers.
“So why the hell do we have this whole premise of talking to the Taliban before we leave Afghanistan?” McMasters said, criticizing his former boss during his recent media appearance to promote his new book.
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Former Trump National Security Advisor HR McMaster recently criticized former President Trump on CNN for his involvement in the Afghanistan withdrawal. (Screenshot/CNN)
McMaster, author of the book “At War with Ourselves,” commented on Trump’s 2024 campaign promise that if re-elected, he would fire any U.S. official who contributed to the withdrawal.
Cooper gave him the opportunity to do so, explaining: “You write in the book: ‘Trump developed the first sound, long-term, cost-effective strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia, but then abandoned that strategy and repeated Obama’s policy of negotiating a timetable for withdrawal with a terrorist organization. In doing so, you set the stage for the Biden administration’s humiliating withdrawal from Kabul in August 2021.'”
He added: “You were not in the White House at the time this happened. You write that you ‘watched with disbelief and disgust as he directed an envoy to negotiate withdrawal with the Taliban.’ Wouldn’t you have advised him to do that?”
“Absolutely, and I advised him in the run-up to his decision in August 2017 to do exactly the opposite,” McMaster replied, adding, “And I tell that story in detail in the book about how Trump really made a difficult decision and made, I think, the best decision available and implemented the first sustainable, common-sense approach to Afghanistan in 2017.”
The former Trump adviser continued: “But Anderson couldn’t stick to the decision. He didn’t stick to the decision. And I think people were constantly whispering mantras like ‘End the endless wars,’ ‘Afghanistan is a graveyard of empires,’ and so on, and manipulating him into doing that.”
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Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 U.S. soldiers during the Afghanistan withdrawal. (POOL)
Cooper then mentioned the pressure President Biden faced for withdrawing from the Trump camp and asked whether Trump also bore responsibility.
McMaster responded by sharply criticizing Trump for speaking to the Taliban about his withdrawal plans, arguing that not even the Obama administration had spoken to terrorists during negotiations to withdraw US troops from Iraq.
He said: “The Obama administration did not negotiate with al-Qaeda in Iraq when they withdrew. So if we wanted to leave, why not just leave? What happened in this series of negotiations and concessions to the Taliban is that we kind of threw the Afghans under the bus when they withdrew.”
McMaster called this “mistake one” and then mentioned Trump’s other mistakes, saying he pressured the Afghan government to release Taliban prisoners as part of the deal and to get the government to “cease active attacks on the Taliban.”
A US review of the withdrawal led by the National Security Council and summarized by the White House in 2023 said Biden’s decisions regarding the situation were “severely constrained by the conditions created by his predecessor.”
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, McMaster also criticized the Biden administration over the withdrawal, saying Biden’s team was “in denial” about the consequences of the withdrawal.
“We see this with a number of consequences as we commemorate the loss of these brave servicemen and women, but the consequences are also in the realm of a resurgence of jihadist terrorist organizations,” McMaster continued. “The (Biden) administration has told itself lies about this clear line between the Taliban and other terrorist organizations.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump campaign team for comment.
Brian Flood of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
