Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he opposes President Trump’s apparent plan to begin a total draw-down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and compared it to ‘the humiliating American departure of Saigon in 1975.”
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, along with many in the GOP conference, has long voiced opposition for rapid troop withdrawal, which, he said during a floor speech Monday, “would hurt our allies and delight the people who wish us harm,” including Russia and Iran.
McConnell made the remarks after Trump last week fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, which many viewed as a move to ease troop withdrawal. Esper had sent a classified memo to the White House earlier this month, criticizing the troop withdrawal plan, which would take place despite the failure of the Taliban to reduce violence in the region.
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said last month the United States would reduce troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 by next year. Trump later tweeted all troops should be home “by Christmas.”
Trump campaigned on bringing U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, but the country remains plagued by violence and instability due to the ruling Taliban and is under threat of encroachment by terror groups.
McConnell said Trump “deserves credit” for reducing U.S. troops in Afghanistan but said the “limited and important role” of the remaining troops should continue until the defeat of the ISIS and al Qaeda terrorist groups.
McConnell said a rapid withdrawal would “be even worse” than President Barack Obama’s 2011 withdrawal of troops from Iraq, which, he said, “fueled the rise of ISIS and new round of global terrorism.”
