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Trump team wants to bring US military leaders to justice over chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal
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Trump team wants to bring US military leaders to justice over chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal

Donald Trump’s transition team is reportedly preparing a list of current and former military officers who could be court-martialed for their involvement in the conflict. chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Mr. Trump’s team is considering creating a commission that could examine whether military leaders could face charges including treason, according to an “official and person close to the project” cited by NBC.

Mr. Biden’s popularity plummeted amid the Horrible scenes at Kabul airport when hundreds of Afghans tried to access planes to escape.

A suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 11 U.S. Marines and 170 Afghan civilians. The United States left behind $7 billion worth of military equipment in the hasty withdrawal.

Now the second Trump administration plans to investigate who is responsible for implementing the original plan.

It was reported that Matt Flynn, former assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, would lead the review – which would also examine how the US entered Afghanistan in the first place.

However, his lawyer, Mark Zaid, denied this in a statement.

“No one asked Mr. Flynn’s opinion on this hypothetical legal scenario.”

Another anonymous campaign source also sought to downplay the report, saying it was posted by individuals trying to get government jobs.

However, there has been little love between Mr. Trump and some of his generals.

The former president said America’s top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley, who had telephoned the Chinese to reassure Beijing after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, should be executed.

Taking to his own social media channel Truth Social, Mr. Trump wrote that General Milley had committed “an act so egregious that, in the past, the punishment would have been DEATH.”

The call was actually authorized by senior Trump administration officials.

A soldier stands guard among Afghan evacueesA soldier stands guard among Afghan evacuees

Mr. Trump wants to hold military leaders accountable for the evacuation – Marcus Yam/Polaris / eyevine

General Milley responded on CBS News. “My family and I have sacrificed a lot for this country, my mother and father before them.

“As much as these comments are directed against me, they are also directed against the military institution and there are 2.1 million of us.

“The American people can assert that each of us, from the individual to the general, is faithful to the Constitution, regardless of threats. »

John Kelly, a retired four-star general who served as Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, described his former boss as: “A person who has no idea what America stands for and who doesn’t has no idea what America is.

“A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who served his country for 40 years in peace and war should lose his life for treason – in the hope that someone will take action. »

Calls for a Pentagon purge

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that the transition team was drawing up a list of military officials to fire – particularly allies of General Milley, who described Mr. Trump as a fascist.

Pete Hegseth, who is Mr. Trump appointed his Secretary of Defense, also called for a purge of the Pentagon.

“The next president of the United States must radically overhaul the senior leadership of the Pentagon so that we are prepared to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. A lot of people need to be fired,” he writes in his 2024 book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.

A purge is not unprecedented, Christopher Preble, senior fellow and director of the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center, told the Telegraph.

“There are legitimate fears that this will be politicized by Trump and his cronies. But the president has the power to fire or reassign serving military officers.

The Telegraph has contacted Mr Trump’s team for comment.

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