President Trump dressed down Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and top military leaders last summer about the stalemate in Afghanistan and told them “you don’t need a strategy to kill people,” according to Bob Woodward’s new book.
The president also criticized the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, and questioned whether he was a “winner” during the July 20, 2017 classified meeting in the Pentagon’s secure briefing room called the Tank.
“When are we going to start winning some wars? We’ve got these charts. When are we going to win some wars? Why are you jamming this down my throat?” Trump reportedly said. “You should be killing guys. You don’t need a strategy to kill people.”
The meeting came as the administration was struggling to put together a new strategy for the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan. The following month, Trump announced his strategy giving commanders more troops and leeway to assist Afghan forces.
Nicholson had been overseeing a strategy handed down by the Obama administration, which drew down the military presence in the country to about 8,400 troops in hopes of ending what had become the longest war in U.S. history.
“I don’t think he knows how to win. I don’t know if he’s a winner. There’s no victories,” Trump told Mattis and a room full of officials including Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Joint Chiefs chairman, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Dunford, being “very polite, very soft-spoken,” attempted to defend Nicholson, who left the Afghanistan command this month, according to the book.
‘Mr. President, there’s not a mandate to win. That’s not his orders,” Dunford reportedly told Trump.
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The president recalled to the assembled group that a few months earlier Nicholson had authorized the use of the GBU-43/B Massive Air Blast, or MOAB, a munition known as the Mother of All Bombs that is the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal.
“He let that fucking big bomb off on them,” Trump said.
According to Woodward, the meeting was combative as officials tried to explain the complex nature of U.S. relations around the world and the importance of maintaining those relationships while Trump pushed back.
At one point, Woodward reported, Mattis tried to politely intervene by saying “Mr. President, Mr. President …” But he was cut off by Trump.
“Mad Dog, Mad Dog,” the president replied, using a nickname that Mattis had publicly said he disliked. “They’re taking a free ride on us. What are we doing? … What about winning? The reason we’re in this spot is because you’ve been recommending these activities.”
