By James J. Devine
“Since the founding of our republic, our country has produced a special class of heroes whose selflessness, courage, and resolve is unmatched in human history,” said then-President Donald Trump during his first year in the White House. “American patriots from every generation have given their last breath on the battlefield for our nation and for our freedom.”
Now, Republicans are looking for American military troops on whom to pin the blame for a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, that culminated in the Abbey Gate terrorist attack on August 26, 2021, in which 13 U.S. service members were killed, another 45 were wounded, and more than 170 Afghan civilians also died.
The Trump transition team is reportedly compiling a list of senior U.S. military officers involved in the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, exploring whether they could face court-martial or other charges for a disaster created by the President-elect when he last occupied the White House.
This effort, spearheaded by President-elect Donald Trump’s advisors, aims to scrutinize military decisions during the withdrawal, which has been widely criticized as chaotic.
The Trump team is also considering establishing a commission to investigate the withdrawal and determine accountability for actions taken under the Biden administration.
Howard Lutnick, one of Trump’s senior advisors, said the president-elect has learned from his first term not to appoint what he described as “Democratic generals.”
This statement reflects a shift in Trump’s approach to senior military leadership, emphasizing loyalty and alignment with his administration’s agenda.
The transition team has suggested that some officers could face charges as serious as treason, although legal experts note that treason charges require stringent legal criteria, including waging war against the United States or aiding its enemies.
The military officers followed orders from President Joe Biden to execute the withdrawal, complicating potential legal actions but the Republicans are far from blameless for the situation.
Independent reviews, including a 2022 report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, have criticized both the Trump and Biden administrations for their roles in the withdrawal.
The withdrawal concluded on August 30, 2021, when the last U.S. military aircraft left Afghanistan.
Republicans initially sought to blame Biden for the pull-out, ignoring Trump’s role over the four years of his administration as well as GOP President George W. Bush’s actions that mired US forces in the country, repeating the same mistakes made by the Soviet Union as well as those by Americans over more than a decade in Vietnam.
“Once again, Afghanistan has become a safe haven for terrorists, giving governing space to terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, ISIS-K, and the Taliban’s own Haqqani Network,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul. “In a glaring example of the threat this poses to the United States, the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was living openly and freely in downtown Kabul in the summer of 2022.”
While the Trump team intends to scapegoat active-duty military professionals, that independent report said, “The single most important near-term factor in the (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces)’s collapse was the U.S. decision to withdraw the U.S. military and its contractors from Afghanistan as called for in the February 2020 U.S./Taliban agreement, signed under the Trump Administration…”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar after the Trump administration effectively surrendered to the group of violent religious fanatics in a deal that did not include the Afghan government.
Trump also betrayed American allies when U.S. troops followed his orders and pulled out of northeast Syria in October 2019, leaving behind men they fought side by side with against the Islamic State group. Amid fears of ethnic cleansing by Turkey, the Kurdish fighters and terrified civilians had to withdraw from a border area where combat was underway.
Trump’s 2020 surrender agreement with the Taliban set the stage for the eventual pullout. The Biden administration oversaw its execution only after 5,000 terrorists were released and other conditions made the exit from America’s longest war in history even more challenging.
Matt Flynn, a former Defense Department official, was initially rumored to be involved in leading this effort, but his attorney, Mark S. Zaid, denied the claim, calling the report baseless. Flynn’s attorney added that such rumors seem to originate from political insiders seeking personal advantage in Washington.
Critics argue that the proposed actions could set a precedent of politicizing military accountability, while Trump supporters frame the investigation as a necessary step to restore trust and discipline within the armed forces.
Trump’s transition into a potential second term appears focused on reshaping federal leadership and pursuing retribution against perceived failures and opposition within government institutions.
His choices for key positions, including Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, signal a move towards populist and controversial leadership styles.
The proposed investigation into military leadership underscores the president-elect’s intent to fundamentally challenge the status quo, potentially leading to significant political and institutional disruptions. How this will affect U.S. military morale and its global standing remains uncertain.
Trump did not serve in the U.S. military, because he received several draft deferments during the Vietnam War.
Between 1964 and 1968, while attending college, Trump received four student deferments. After graduating in 1968, he received a medical deferment due to a bogus diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels, which was documented by a letter from a doctor.
This medical deferment reclassified him as 1-Y, meaning he was only eligible for service in cases of a national emergency. In 1972, the 1-Y classification was abolished, and Trump was reclassified as 4-F, permanently disqualifying him from military service.
The bone spur diagnosis and the circumstances surrounding it have been a point of scrutiny. Critics have questioned whether Trump used his family’s influence to avoid military service, a claim Trump has denied.
In interviews, Trump has acknowledged his deferments and often expressed support for the U.S. military and veterans but the chickenhawk Republican seems willing to sacrifice a few more people who are braver than he is to maintain his public tough guy image.
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