Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that President Biden should withdraw troops from Afghanistan before September and not use the sacred date of Sept. 11 as the deadline.
“I wish Joe Biden wouldn’t use September 11th as the date to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan,” Mr. Trump said. “September 11th represents a very sad event and period for our Country and should remain a day of reflection and remembrance honoring those great souls we lost.”
The 45th president’s statement explained that 19 years of war is long enough, and his plan to withdraw by May 1 was a good timeline.
“I made early withdraw possible by already pulling much of our billions of dollars of equipment out and, more importantly, reducing our military presence to less than 2,000 troops from the 16,000 level that was there (likewise in Iraq, and zero troops in Syria except for the area where we KEPT THE OIL),” he said.
Mr. Biden announced last week he would take U.S. troops out of Afghanistan where they have been stationed since 2001, but beginning in May instead of using that date as the deadline as Mr. Trump had planned. The new deadline of Sept. 11 was announced.
“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” Mr. Biden said.
Senate Republicans have been quick to attack Mr. Biden for withdrawing troops, saying that will leave a vacuum for the Taliban and other Islamist terrorists to gain control.
“This administration has decided to abandon U.S. efforts in Afghanistan which have helped keep radical Islamic terrorism in check,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican. “And bizarrely, they have decided to do so by September 11th.”
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.