Donald Trump made his thoughts clear as he made the comment towards Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a cabinet meeting
Donald Trump made it clear that he still has some issues with a previous military operation that happened under Biden’s tenure.
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire for change, and it seems he’s already setting his sights on the next big move he wants to implement.
Trump recently expressed his strong disapproval of the way the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, and during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, February 26, he made it clear that he would handle things differently. With Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth standing by his side, Trump boldly stated, “They’re going to be largely gone.” He then turned to Hegseth, adding, “I’m not going to tell this man what to do. But I will say that if I had his place, I’d fire every single one of them.”
This comment points to Trump’s frustration with the chaos surrounding the U.S. military’s evacuation as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. In August 2021, President Biden ordered the swift withdrawal of American forces after the Taliban rapidly overtook the Afghan government. While U.S. military planes successfully evacuated American soldiers and some Afghan allies, the operation faced intense criticism for its execution.
The withdrawal was part of a deal negotiated by Trump’s administration with the Taliban, and Hegseth, along with others in Trump’s administration, is now reviewing every detail of the “botched” operation. “We’re doing a complete review of every single aspect of what happened with the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan, and plan to have full accountability,” Hegseth said.
Though it remains unclear how many military officials involved in the withdrawal still serve in active duty, Biden defended the decision at the time, claiming that fulfilling the Trump-negotiated deal was the only reasonable path forward. In his address, he explained, “When I came into office, I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 — just a little over three months after I took office.”
Biden went on to explain that the U.S. had already reduced its troop presence during Trump’s tenure, and the Taliban was stronger than ever. Faced with the reality of either following through on the withdrawal agreement or escalating the conflict further, Biden made the call to bring American troops home. “There was only the cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, lurching into the third decade of conflict,” he said.
