On Wednesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump defended his plan to withdraw from Afghanistan and his administration’s deal with the Taliban by arguing that the Taliban faced consequences when they didn’t follow the deal.
Trump said, “So we [had] a step-by-step agreement. They didn’t fulfill certain steps, and therefore, we knocked the hell out of them. We didn’t lose a soldier in 18 months. We had a great agreement, but they had to live up to it. And whenever they would miss a step, they were under default, and we would either hit them very hard, do something, but they were 100%. … They had total respect for us. They didn’t kill a soldier in 18 months. You know, they were knocking them off left and right during the Obama administration with the snipers. They were just knocking them off left and right. And I had a conversation with Abdul, and it was a very serious, very tough conversation. After that conversation, we didn’t lose one soldier in 18 months. … They had total respect for us. And we were going to get out, but we were going to get out with dignity and strength.”
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