As it should have, President Joe Biden’s disastrous, deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 played a large part in last Thursday’s presidential debate.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump made it clear that, during his term, he had negotiated a way out of Afghanistan, but that this withdrawal was based on conditions on the ground:
“As far as Afghanistan is concerned, I was getting out of Afghanistan, but we were getting out with dignity, with strength, with power. He got out, it was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country’s life,” Trump said, according to a transcript.
And Biden bungled the aftermath, Trump said, noting that the current president “doesn’t fire people. He never fired people. I’ve never seen him fire anybody.
“He should have fired every military man that was involved with … the Afghanistan horror show. The most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.”
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So, what would a Trump-led withdrawal from Afghanistan have looked like? It’s impossible to say at this point — but, in a podcast interview published Wednesday, Texas GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt gave a glimpse as to what it might have looked like.
Hunt and Florida GOP Rep. Byron Donalds were guests on “The Sage Steele Show,” hosted by former ESPN reporter Sage Steele. When the topic turned to Afghanistan, the lawmakers agreed that weakness by Biden on that stage had bled over into other conflicts.
“When you are weak, and our adversaries know you are weak, they push you,” Donalds said. “It is no different than the bully in the schoolyard. If you’re timid, and a bully knows he can get away with it, what happens? He comes for your lunch money every week. Every single day. Until you punch back.”
Hunt then jumped in with what he called his “favorite President Trump story.”
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“When we were negotiating with the Taliban, when President Trump was still the president, President Trump wanted to get out of Afghanistan, but he wanted a conditions-based withdrawal, meaning. ‘you do what we tell you to do and we will start pulling troops back slowly, as long as you abide by our rules,’” he said.
“President Trump and [then-Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo were talking to Taliban leadership in the room, and they had one translator. President Trump looked at the Taliban leader and said this, ‘I want to leave Afghanistan, but it is going to be a conditions-based withdrawal.” And the translator translated. And he said, ‘If you harm a hair on a single American, I’m going to kill you.’
“And the translator goes [leans back]. And Trump goes, ‘Tell him! Tell him what I said,’” Hunt continued.
Trump then “reached into his pocket, pulled out a satellite photo of the leader of the Taliban’s home, and handed it to him, got up, and walked out of the room.”
“Do you know, for 18 months not a single American was killed in Afghanistan?” Hunt said. “That’s the definition of strength. That’s what I’m talking about.”
Both sets remarks from the podcast are below.
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The clip was widely shared online, with most comments echoing his one: “This is what a real leader does and protects this country.”
This is what a real leader does and protects this country.
— Robert Mahar (@Rob_Mahar07) July 2, 2024
Now, the story itself remains apocryphal. However, the material facts surrounding the difference in withdrawal plans certainly were true: Trump’s plan hinged on a conditions-based withdrawal that Biden made unconditional and then found out, in a hurry, why those conditions were there.
Is what Hunt is saying is factual? I don’t know what he’d have to gain by lying about it on a podcast if it could be debunked, but that’s not actually the point.
Could you picture this being factual with Trump as president? Yes, in underlined bold italics. Could you picture Joe Biden doing this? No, in similar font.
Instead, the president and his people botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and nobody got fired for it. The American people now have the option to fire that president. Just saying.
