Inside sources say Donald Trump’s staff is compiling a list of past and present military officials responsible for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump has previously described the operation as a “humiliation” and “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country” and is reportedly seeking to prosecute military leaders for treason and other crimes.
A US official told NBC that the list includes the names of a large number of senior military officers who were involved in various ways in the chaotic withdrawal in 2021, during which the Taliban almost immediately overthrew the US-allied government and regained power in the country. However, as the officers are deemed to have followed President Biden’s order to withdraw all US forces, it is not entirely clear whether a charge of treason can be legally justified.
Already during Trump’s first term as president, the US reached an agreement with the Taliban that all 13,000 US troops would eventually leave the country, and that some 5,000 imprisoned Taliban fighters would be released.
However, it was during the Biden administration that the withdrawal actually took place, but the US greatly overestimated the ability of Afghan government forces to fight the Taliban on their own.
A failure
Several generals and warlords who had previously supported the pro-US government quickly decided either to lay down their arms or join the Taliban, and in a short time the group the US had been trying to crush for 20 years had regained almost all the territory it had lost.
In the midst of the final phase of the US evacuation, the Islamic State also carried out a suicide attack on Kabul airport, killing 182 people – including 13 US soldiers.
Between 7 October 2001 and 30 August 2021, a total of 2,459 US military personnel were killed – and over 20,000 more injured. 18 CIA agents were also killed in Afghanistan, as well as 1,822 civilian employees working for the US.
“Disgraced our nation”
Trump’s nominee for defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been highly critical of the withdrawal, saying the US not only lost the war in Afghanistan but also wasted billions of dollars.
Describing the rollout as a “humiliating retreat”, he has called for an overhaul of the Pentagon’s top leadership and the dismissal of inept generals and other senior officers.
“Lots of people need to be fired”, he has previously declared.
“These generals lied. They mismanaged. They violated their oath. They failed. They disgraced our troops, and our nation. They got people killed, unnecessarily. And, to this moment, they keep their jobs. Worse, they continue to actively erode our military and its values – by capitulating to civilians with radical agendas. They are an embarrassment, with stars still on their shoulders”, he wrote in his book The War on Warriors.
It is also reported that several current and former employees of the FBI and the US Department of Justice have contacted lawyers ahead of Mr Trump’s new term – and they too are said to be concerned about being subject to investigations and lawsuits under the new administration.
