Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who previously served as President Trump's national security adviser, on Sunday called Trump's order to further reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan by mid-January "abhorrent."
CBS News' Margaret Brennan asked McMaster if Trump was "handing the Taliban a victory on the way out the door." McMaster answered in the affirmative, adding that Trump has "paradoxically doubled down on all the flaws of the Obama administration's approach to Afghanistan." As McMaster sees it, if the Taliban establishes control over large parts of Afghanistan, they will offer "safe haven" for terrorist groups, making the U.S. "far less safe" and more vunerabe to attacks.
But the real issue, McMaster argues, is that the U.S. would be leaving after previously "empowering" the Taliban, citing the fact that U.S.-Taliban negotiations led to the Afghan government releasing 5,000 Taliban prisoners. "If we were gonna leave," he said. "Just leave." Tim O'Donnell
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