Trump: 'Bomb the hell out of' U.S. equipment left behind in Afghanistan

published 30 August 2021

Former President Donald Trump has released another statement on President Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal, this time focusing on the U.S. military equipment that was left behind and likely wound up in the hands of the Taliban.

The Biden administration should demand the Taliban immediately return the equipment, Trump argued, but if they refuse he proposed either using "unequivocal military force" to retrieve it or at least bombing "the hell out of it."

It's not uncommon for Trump to criticize his successor, but The Washington Post's Dave Weigel believes the latest statement is more notable than some others because it appears to represent a tonal shift for the potential 2024 presidential candidate, who has advocated for ending the war in Afghanistan and touted his administration's deal with the Taliban. The Daily Beast's Asawin Suebsaeng, meanwhile, said it reminds him of Trump's rhetoric about during the 2016 campaign when he simulatenously called for leaving Iraq and going in to "take the oil." The statement, Suebsaeng said, also "helps explain some of [the] GOP incongruence" on Afghanistan.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.