During an interview Thursday night with Fox News’ conservative commentator Sean Hannity, former President Trump lambasted America’s current leadership amid the chaos currently unfolding in Afghanistan.
“We look like fools all over the world. We’re weak. We’re pathetic. We’re being led by people that have no idea what they’re doing. They take the military out and then they say now we’ll bring out the people and all of a sudden the Taliban walks in,” he said. “We had the Taliban so under control they wouldn’t have moved without getting our approval.”
The former commander in chief spoke to Hannity after the deadly attacks Thursday in Afghanistan killed and wounded U.S. service members and Afghan civilians.
At least 13 U.S. service members were killed, marking the first American military combat fatalities in Afghanistan since February of last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In response to the attacks, President Biden pledged Thursday afternoon that the U.S. will retaliate, noting that he has called for the development of operational plans to attack ISIS-K’s assets leadership, and facilities.
Trump decried Biden for bungling the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that if he were still in office, the withdrawal would have unfolded much differently.
“Nobody would’ve even realized we had gone. Everybody woulda been out. The equipment woulda been taken out,” he said, noting that he would have destroyed bases but retained Bagram Air Base. “But we would’ve kept it because of China and Iran, and Afghanistan to a much lesser extent.”
Trump said “because of what they’re doing, we’re leaving in disgrace.”
But he noted that the U.S. “could’ve left with great dignity. We could’ve left with safety. We could’ve taken everybody with us that we wanted, all of the great American citizens and people that helped us, whether it’s interpreters or others.”
In a video message aired at the beginning of Hannity’s program before the interview, Trump expressed his condolences to the families of the fallen service members.
“Today all Americans grieve alongside you. Together we also pray that God will heal the other courageous American service members who were wounded in this heinous attack,” Trump said. “In addition, our hearts are with the families of all the innocent civilians who died, and with the many men, women and children who were terribly injured in this act of evil. This tragedy should never have taken place. It should never have happened. And it wound not have happened it I were your president.”