Trump Strongly Criticizes US Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Labels Biden’s Handling ‘Disgraceful’

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has sharply criticized the manner in which U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, describing the Biden administration’s management of the process as “disgraceful.” On Friday evening, February 12, in North Carolina, Trump stated that if the withdrawal had been overseen by his administration, American military equipment would not have been left behind in Afghanistan. He emphasized that the United States could have exited Afghanistan “with honor and strength” and asserted that no one would have “fled.” The U.S. President also questioned why military planes and jets were not evacuated from Afghanistan, adding that such equipment should have been transported before the full withdrawal of troops. Furthermore, Trump claimed that the U.S. military was rebuilt during his first term in office and is now “the strongest army in the world.” These remarks were made while he simultaneously praised an operation to arrest Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, calling it an “extraordinary military operation.” American forces left Afghanistan in August 2021 after nearly two decades of military presence. The final phase of the withdrawal was managed by Joe Biden, during which the Taliban took control of Kabul and other provinces—a development that had extensive political, security, and human rights consequences for the country’s residents. The process was marked by a suicide bombing at Kabul airport, which killed 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians; an event that remains one of the most controversial aspects of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.