FLASHBACK: President Donald Trump Said Rushed Afghanistan Withdrawal Would Create Vacuum for Terrorists in 2017
Evan James
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Then president Donald Trump predicted the chaos of a rushed Afghanistan withdrawal just four years ago.
Speaking at Fort Myer in Virginia on August 21, 2017, Trump warned that a “hasty withdrawal” would essentially allow Afghanistan to revert back to a safe haven for terrorist activity.
“The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable,” he said. “9/11, the worst terrorist attack in our history, was planned and directed from Afghanistan, because that country was ruled by a government that gave comfort and shelter to terrorists.”
“A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al-Qaeda, would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11,” he added.
Twitter user @ttroska posted the clip of Trump’s remarks in reply to a clip of Pentagon press secretary John Kirby. The latter features Kirby saying that the Taliban released thousands of ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) prisoners, the group claiming responsibility for Thursday’s attack at the Kabul airport that killed 12 American soldiers.
Watch:
Big League Politics has followed the chaos in Afghanistan closely. Our most recent report relayed Pentagon data showing that 88 percent of evacuees out of Kabul are refugees:
The Pentagon published information revealing that the overwhelming majority of individuals evacuated from the Kabul Airport aboard charter and military flights in recent weeks are Afghan nationals without an existing credible claim to legal residency in the United States, sharply contrasting with corporate media narratives claiming that Afghan evacuees have already been granted special visa status, or are American citizens.
88,000 of the 100,000 evacuees are legally defined as refugees. Only 7,000 currently hold special immigrant visas, awarded to Afghans who have worked with US military and civilian authorities during the twenty year operation in the country.
This is one of those times when it’s unfortunate for the former president to be spot on. Citing his deal with the Taliban that expired in May, Trump told Sean Hannity Thursday night that they and other radical Islamic groups were very reluctant to make any moves during his presidency.
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