Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday demanded his successor apologize for the disastrous U.S. exit from Afghanistan.
He said that President Biden handed the Taliban “a country on a silver platter.”
“I think the best thing he can do is apologize to the American people and apologize to the world,” Mr. Trump said on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Company.” “He ought to apologize and stop trying to, excuse the language, bull— everybody into thinking that what he did was good.”
Mr. Trump also said the military was “humiliated” by the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and added his voice to scores of former military leaders calling for the resignations of Pentagon top brass.
“That withdrawal was an absolute humiliation of the United States of America and the admirals and generals are right,” he said. “And more than that should resign.”
His comments followed an open letter signed by nearly 90 retired generals and other military figures demanding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark A. Milley to resign for “negligence in performing their duties.”
“I think that’s absolutely correct,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the latter.
Mr. Trump said the buck stops with Mr. Biden, who has said Mr. Trump’s pullout deal with the Taliban set the stage for the chaos leading up to the final exit of U.S. troops from Kabul on Monday.
“I’m a person that wanted to get out,” he said Tuesday. “But I’m also a person that says, ‘Go back and get the damn equipment. Go back and bomb the hell out of it. Do one thing or another.’”
Mr. Biden did not brief the public Monday after the withdrawal was completed. The White House issued a statement thanking commanders and service members on the ground and remembering the 13 service members killed in last week’s suicide attack targeting the airport in Kabul. Mr. Biden is expected to make a public address later Tuesday.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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