Ten generals and admirals have come to the defense of VP Harris and the Biden administration just as House Republicans release their latest hit-piece trying to blame Biden for the mess that was left by the Trump administration.
Ten generals and admirals are mobilizing to defend Vice President Kamala Harris from Republican attempts to tie her to the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Why it matters: The withdrawal has emerged as a major campaign issue in the lead-up to Tuesday’s presidential debate, with Harris coming under fire from former President Trump, House Republicans and parents of victims of the Abbey Gate suicide attack, which killed 13 American service members.
- The push to defend Harris comes from retired military brass, including three with four-stars: Admiral Steve Abbot, who served as deputy homeland security advisor to George W. Bush, Gen. Lloyd W. Newton and Gen. Larry R. Ellis, who has never previously endorsed a political candidate.
- Some of the military officials are also fanning out on TV this week to defend Harris’ record, two people familiar with the plans told Axios.
Driving the news: “Without involving the Afghan government, [Trump] and his Administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters,” the retired military officials wrote in a National Security Leaders for America letter first obtained by Axios.
- The group accused Trump of leaving Biden and Harris with no plans to execute a withdrawal and little time to do so.
- “This chaotic approach severely hindered the Biden-Harris Administration’s ability to execute the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our service members and our allies at risk,” they wrote.
- Trump “continually disrespects those who serve in uniform, including wounded warriors, prisoners of war, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice,” they added.
Trump has been trying to politicize the issue ahead of the debate, starting with his failed stunt at Arlington National Cemetery, and Republicans are trying to help him along with their latest partisan hit-piece that completely ignores Trump’s role in what happened during the withdrawal.
House Republicans on Sunday issued a scathing report on their investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, blaming the disastrous end of America’s longest war on President Joe Biden’s administration and minimizing the role of former President Donald Trump, who had signed the withdrawal deal with the Taliban.
The partisan review lays out the final months of military and civilian failures, following Trump’s February 2020 withdrawal deal, that allowed America’s fundamentalist Taliban enemy to sweep through and conquer all of the country even before the last U.S. officials flew out on Aug. 30, 2021. The chaotic exit left behind many American citizens, Afghan battlefield allies, women activists and others at risk from the Taliban.But House Republicans’ report breaks little new ground as the withdrawal has been exhaustively litigated through several independent reviews.
The Harris/Walz campaign responded to the latest line of attack with this statement over the weekend:
Statement on Anniversary of Trump Inviting the Taliban to Camp David
Five years ago today, President Donald Trump revealed in a series of tweets that he had invited the Taliban to Camp David just days before the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Trump pursued these secret talks with the Taliban without involving the Afghan government or America’s international allies, and it upended painstaking negotiations aimed at ending America’s longest war.
Trump then disinvited the Taliban, and the Camp David scheme fell apart, but Trump subsequently cut a secret deal directly with the Taliban that freed 5,000 imprisoned fighters, allowing them to return to the battlefield to regain strength, and put the Taliban in its strongest military position in 20 years. It also set a virtually impossible deadline for a U.S. withdrawal and gave permission for the Taliban to attack U.S. troops if the timeline wasn’t met. In short, Trump gave the Taliban everything they wanted. His own former national security advisor called the deal “a surrender agreement.”
Despite the deal’s drastic implications for U.S. military strategy and the safety of U.S. troops and allies, Trump left the Biden-Harris Administration with zero plans for an orderly withdrawal—only a dangerous, costly mess. Trump even bragged that the Biden-Harris Administration “couldn’t stop the process” he started.
Donald Trump wants America to forget that he had four years to end America’s longest war, but failed to do it. All he did was cut a secret deal with the Taliban that put our troops in harm’s way and set the stage for the sudden collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s forcible takeover.
Statement from Harris-Walz 2024 National Security Spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein:
“Trump shamelessly attacks the Vice President because he hopes he can trick the country into forgetting that his own actions undermined U.S. strategy and put our troops and allies in harm’s way. Trump wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David just days before September 11th—think about that. He cut a bad deal with the very same people who violently took over Afghanistan, leading to the collapse of the Afghan government. Trump’s chaotic actions led to catastrophic consequences in Afghanistan. His own former national security advisor agrees: Trump cannot be trusted to safeguard our national security or serve as the commander-in-chief of our armed forces.”
When the media will acknowledge this is another story. The framing on this issue has been very one sided and ignores Trump’s role in the debacle.
Pete Buttigieg called the report out for what it is, but sadly interviews like his have been the exception and not the rule in the coverage dominating our airways over the better part of the last week.
