Photo: Alamy
Former Trump National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (Ret.) shared concerns on Sunday that U.S. troops are under more danger in the Middle East under the leadership of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
McMaster expressed his comments during an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan.
“What I’m concerned about is that those [U.S.] forces will be constrained in what they’re able to do in response,” he said. “I think what we have seen is a reluctance to act like we know what the return address is for this violence. And, of course, the return address is Iran.”
According to the interview, over 40,000 American troops are stationed across the Middle East.
McMaster also criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s calls for a ceasefire by Israel.
“And I think that the narrative that you constantly hear about turning down the temperature, escalation management, the reluctance really to confront Iran directly and impose costs on Iran, that actually gives Iran license to escalate on their own terms with impunity,” he said.
The interview came just one day before the third anniversary of 13 U.S. service members who were killed in a bombing at the Kabul airport during the Biden-Harris administration’s military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A news release from the Trump campaign on Friday called the event “the crescendo of the botched Harris-Biden Afghanistan withdrawal, which ranks among the worst foreign policy debacles in American history.”
The statement also noted that Harris still has not said the names of the 13 service members out loud, calling for accountability over the loss of the American heroes.
“There still has been no accountability for the Harris-Biden failed withdrawal, which stranded thousands of American citizens and left billions of dollars worth of U.S. equipment behind for the Taliban — who quickly re-took the country and restored their ruthless, repressive regime to power,” it noted.
Trump is visiting Arlington National Cemetery today to pay his respects to the service members killed in the bombing. He will also travel to Michigan on Monday to address the National Guard Association of the U.S.