Fox News Hosts Worry About Trump’s Afghanistan Withdrawal: The Taliban’s Reading This As Weakness
Fox & Friends offered some rare criticism of President Donald Trump Friday morning following the announcement that thousands of US troops could soon be withdrawn from Afghanistan as part of a peace deal with the Taliban. Though they didn’t name the President, it’s clear Trump favors the plan.
Brian Kilmeade and Pete Hegseth discussed the issue.
“Pete, there’s a lot of foreign policy challenges,” Kilmeade said. “People talk about Iran. They’re talking about the rockets being set off by little rocket man in North Korea but with this whole Afghanistan peace talks, it made me think of you, because you fought there.”
“It looks like we could be skidding towards an end to this 18 year war. Details are beginning to emerge. Ryan Crocker, a former ambassador in Iraq, says he worries that we may be watching a replay of the way it ended in Vietnam. A thirst to get out, gets us out prematurely. The Taliban can’t be trusted like the North Vietnamese. The whole thing collapses. Do you have that same worry?”
“I’m worried about it too,” Hegseth said. “Brian, listen, the war’s gone on too long. I don’t want to nation build there. I do think bringing troops home at some level is an important thing.”
“But if you lunge at a deal, the lessons are clear on that. Look how badly the Obama administration wanted an Iran deal so they got a terrible deal. Look at how quickly Barack Obama wanted to get out of Iraq and he created the conditions for ISIS.”
“We’re sitting at the table with the Taliban. We want to call it a peace deal. They ‘re calling it withdraw deal and critics calling it surrender deal. You can keep a small number of troops there and basically end the war without handing the future of the government to the Taliban.”
“And I know some folks involved in this process. The Taliban’s reading this as weakness. That’s how they will, they read it that way when I was there in 2011/2012. They want to take over the capital of Kabul over, take over the entire country. If we don’t do it right, that’s where it could be headed. I understand the impulse to leave, that’s correct, but a lot of things that could go sideways here, guys.”
“A lot of blood has been shed there and it has to end in the right way,” Kilmeade said.
Watch the video above, via Fox News.
