Former Trump national security adviser slams old boss over Afghanistan withdrawal: 'Concessions to Taliban'

Former Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster told CNN on Monday that part of the blame for the botched U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan rests on former President Trump's shoulders.

McMaster, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General, told network anchor Anderson Cooper that the former president’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan while negotiating with Taliban leaders set the stage for the maligned U.S. pullout from the country under the Biden administration that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members.

"So, the whole premise of talking to the Taliban before you leave Afghanistan, why the heck were we even doing that?" McMasters said, slamming his former boss during his latest media appearance promoting his new book.

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Author of "At War with Ourselves," McMaster commented on Trump’s 2024 campaign promise that he would fire every U.S. official who contributed to the withdrawal if re-elected.

Cooper prompted him, stating, "You write in the book, ‘Trump established the first sound, long-term, low-cost strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia, but then abandoned that strategy and replicated the Obama policy of negotiating a withdrawal timeline with a terrorist organization, setting the stage for the Biden administration’s humiliating retreat from Kabul in August 2021.’"

He added, "You were out of the White House at the time that this was done. You write that you ‘watched with incredulity and revulsion as he directed an envoy to negotiate withdrawal with the Taliban.’ You would not have advised him to do that?"

"Absolutely, and I advised him to do quite the opposite of that in the run-up to what was his decision in August of 2017," McMaster replied, adding, "And I tell that story in detail in the book about how really, Trump made a tough decision and made, I think, what was the best available decision, and put into place in 2017 the first sustainable, reasoned approach to Afghanistan."

The former Trump adviser continued, "But, you know, Anderson, he couldn’t stick with the decision. He didn’t stick with the decision. And I think people were in his ear and manipulated him into, with these mantras of, you know, ‘end the endless wars’ and ‘Afghanistan is a graveyard of empires’ and so forth."

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Cooper followed up by mentioning the heat President Biden has taken from the Trump camp for the withdrawal, and asked if Trump bears responsibility too. 

McMaster responded by slamming Trump for talking to the Taliban about his plan to withdraw and argued that not even the Obama administration talked to terrorists when negotiating the pull-out of U.S. troops in Iraq. 

He said, "the Obama administration didn’t negotiate with Al Qaeda in Iraq on the way out. And so, if we were going to leave, why not just leave? What happened in these series of negotiations and concessions to the Taliban, is we kind of threw the Afghans under the bus on the way out."

McMaster referred to that as "mistake one," and then mentioned Trump’s other blunders, saying he pressured the Afghan government to release Taliban prisoners as part of the deal, as well as getting the government to "stop the active targeting of the Taliban."

A U.S. review of the withdrawal led by the National Security Council, which was summarized by the White House in 2023, stated that Biden’s choices involving the situation were "severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor."

During an interview with Fox News on Monday, McMaster also criticized the Biden administration regarding the withdrawal, stating that Biden’s team was in "denial" about the consequences of the pullout.

"We’re seeing that with a number of consequences as we commemorate the loss of these courageous service men and women, but the consequences are also in the area of a resurgence of jihadist terrorist organizations," McMaster continued. "The [Biden] administration told themselves lies about this bold line between the Taliban and other terrorist organizations." 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this report.