Former President Donald Trump is urging another date be selected for the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that’s now set for the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
In a statement released by his office, Trump objected to the use of the 9/11 anniversary for the move.
“I wish Joe Biden wouldn’t use September 11th as the date to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, for two reasons,” he wrote.
“First, we can and should get out earlier,” he wrote, noting Biden blew past his own May 1 deadline for the pullout.
“Nineteen years is enough, in fact, far too much and way too long. I made early withdraw possible by already pulling much of our billions of dollars of equipment out and, more importantly, reducing our military presence to less than 2,000 troops from the 16,000 level that was there (likewise in Iraq, and zero troops in Syria except for the area where we KEPT THE OIL).
Trump said the second reason was that Sept. 11 would take away from the “day of reflection.”
“September 11th represents a very sad event and period for our Country and should remain a day of reflection and remembrance honoring those great souls we lost,” he wrote. “Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do. I planned to withdraw on May 1st, and we should keep as close to that schedule as possible.”
Trump’s statement comes as Biden announced recently that he’d pull 2,500 U.S. armed forces from Afghanistan between May 1 and Sept., defying the 14-month period established in February 2020 in a pact signed by Trump, U.S. NATO allies and the Taliban.
“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” Biden said in his speech Wednesday.
