Trump, Who Decided on Afghanistan Withdrawal, Harshly Criticizes Withdrawal Chaos as "Worst Shame in US History"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Former U.S. President Donald Trump harshly criticized President Joe Biden over the chaos that erupted during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

On the 17th (local time), in an interview with Fox News, former President Trump said, "No one has handled the withdrawal worse than Biden," adding, "In my opinion, this incident is the worst disgrace in American history."

Former President Trump had initially decided on the withdrawal from Afghanistan during his tenure. He declared that U.S. troops would withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1 of this year, according to an agreement with the Taliban.

His successor, President Biden, delayed the withdrawal deadline set by Trump by several months before carrying out the withdrawal.

President Biden had criticized Trump’s hasty decision to withdraw.

He pointed out, "Because of the Trump administration’s agreement, the Taliban’s military status has become the strongest since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001."

Seemingly aware of such criticism, former President Trump said in the interview that "the act of getting out (the withdrawal itself) is a great thing."

He went on to say that the reason the Afghan government forces quickly collapsed was that the soldiers were motivated by money rather than duty, repeating the security free-rider theory that the U.S. donates defense costs to foreign countries.

He said, "I received very unpleasant information from many others," adding, "Afghan soldiers are among the highest paid in the world."

He claimed, "Because the Afghan army works for money, they stopped fighting as soon as we left," and "The U.S. gave huge sums of money to Afghan soldiers, which was a kind of bribe to make them fight."

Former President Trump also expressed concern that weapons left by U.S. troops in Afghanistan could fall into the hands of strategic competitors and be used to erode America’s military superiority.

He said, "We have hundreds of billions of dollars (tens of trillions of won) worth of the latest Black Hawk helicopters," adding, "Because they are the world’s best military equipment, now Russia and China will begin analyzing them."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.