Former President Donald Trump is suggesting the United States should take action if the Taliban does not return military equipment.
“Never in history has a withdrawal from war been handled so badly or incompetently as the Biden Administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. In addition to the obvious, ALL EQUIPMENT should be demanded to be immediately returned to the United States, and that includes every penny of the $85 billion dollars in cost,” Trump said in a statement.
He added, “If it is not handed back, we should either go in with unequivocal Military force and get it, or at least bomb the hell out of it. Nobody ever thought such stupidity, as this feeble-brained withdrawal, was possible!”
President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, spoke to reporters about the matter last week.
“We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” Sullivan told reporters.
According to The Washington Post, the United States has provided at least $18 billion to the Afghan military since 2005 for “equipment and transportation.” The Post cited a report to Congress last month from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
The former president recently shared his thoughts on the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, including the attack in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. service members.
“As one nation, America mourns the loss of our brave and brilliant American service members in a savage and barbaric terrorist attack in Afghanistan,” Trump said.
He praised them for sacrificing “themselves for the country that they love, racing against time to rescue their fellow citizens from harm’s way. They died as American heroes and our nation will honor their memory forever.”
Trump continued, “This tragedy should never have taken place. It should never have happened, and it would not have happened if I were your president.”