Appearing on Tuesday’s CBS This Morning, retired general and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster not only blasted President Biden’s disastrous decision to recklessly surrender Afghanistan to the Taliban but completely blew up the broadcast network’s “false narrative” that the Afghan people wanted the U.S. out.
“Is it your belief, General, that we should not have left Afghanistan?,” co-host Anthony Mason skeptically asked at the top of the contentious exchange. McMaster replied: “Absolutely. And I think you can just see that based on the tragedy that's unfolding before our eyes....we’re seeing a humanitarian catastrophe...” He also warned that the horrendous collapse of the country was “going to strengthen the jihadist terrorists who we went to Afghanistan to defeat after the most devastating terrorist attack in history, on September 11, 2001.”
Mason tried to push the false notion that the Biden administration had public opinion on its side: “General, if you go back through three presidencies, they all wanted to leave Afghanistan. The American public does not support us being there but you say we talked our selves into defeat in Afghanistan. What do you mean?” McMaster explained: “We’ve had three presidents in a row tell us it is not worth it. But I think what we’re seeing today is that the cost of our precipitous withdrawal far exceeds the cost of a sustained and sustainable commitment there.”
A worried Mason followed up: “Are you suggesting then we should effectively have a permanent force in Afghanistan? Is that your belief?” McMaster pointed out: “Well, I mean, I’ll tell you, Anthony, are we still in South Korea? Right? We have 30,000 troops in South Korea.”
At that point, Mason argued that a “large element” of the Afghan people did not want the U.S. military in their country: “But General, I mean, if you look at South Korea – I mean, in Korea, the people in control there want us there. The difference in Afghanistan is that there is a large element of the country that doesn’t.”
McMaster shut down that talking point immediately:
Did you see the images of people running next to that C-17 aircraft? Did they want us there? Did they want the Taliban there? I think this is really a false narrative....I mean, I don’t know, do you think the Afghan people are welcoming the Taliban under these conditions? I don’t think so. Many of them have accommodated with them, because why, they looked over their shoulders and said, “Who’s got our back?” And we said, “Not us, we’re leaving.”
Mason still insisted that Biden was right to pull out American troops: “But a lot of Americans would look at this, General, and say we spent 20 years there, billions of dollars trying to build up their army which collapsed in a matter of days.”
McMaster hit back: “So we have our own narrative, our narcissistic, self-referential narrative about ending the endless wars. But hey, guess what? Wars don’t end when we leave and our enemies are fighting an endless jihad.”
Just prior to Mason’s exchange with McMaster, the CBS morning show hailed Biden’s “defiant” tantrum Monday afternoon in which he tried to blame everyone else for his failure. The White House can apparently still rely on some in the liberal media to defend its defeatism.
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Here is a full transcript of the August 17 segment:
7:09 AM ET
ANTHONY MASON: Retired Army General H.R. McMaster was President Trump’s National Security Advisor in 2017 and 2018. Before that, he served in Afghanistan as a senior military commander. General, good morning.
H.R. MCMASTER: Good morning, Anthony. Good to be with you.
MASON: Is it your belief, General, that we should not have left Afghanistan?
MCMASTER: Absolutely. And I think you can just see that based on the tragedy that's unfolding before our eyes. And of course we’re seeing a humanitarian catastrophe, Anthony, but it’s worse than that. It’s going to affect our security, it’s going to affect our reputation in the world, and it’s going to strengthen the jihadist terrorists who we went to Afghanistan to defeat after the most devastating terrorist attack in history, on September 11, 2001.
MASON: General, if you go back through three presidencies, they all wanted to leave Afghanistan. The American public does not support us being there but you say we talked our selves into defeat in Afghanistan. What do you mean?
MCMASTER: Well, I’ll tell you, Anthony. We’ve had three presidents in a row tell us it is not worth it. But I think what we’re seeing today is that the cost of our precipitous withdrawal far exceeds the cost of a sustained and sustainable commitment there. I mean, Anthony, we had – who knows what the number would be? You know, 8,500, 3,500 troops. But what was important about the – beyond the numbers – is that Afghans were bearing the brunt of their fight to preserve the freedoms that they’ve enjoyed since we helped them defeat the Taliban in 2001. But they were also fighting for us, for all humanity, on a modern day frontier between barbarism and civilization. Against jihadist terrorists who are the enemies of all humanity.
MASON: Are you suggesting then we should effectively have a permanent force in Afghanistan? Is that your belief?
MCMASTER: Well, I mean, I’ll tell you, Anthony, are we still in South Korea? Right? We have 30,000 troops in South Korea. We had – you know, we had 3,500 – 2,500 troops most recently – in Afghanistan. Who, as I said, were enabling the Afghans to bear the brunt of the fight against our common enemies. And the cost of that was minuscule and it was sustainable. Look at the cost now to the Afghan people, to the world, to humanity and was it worth it, right? We can cry all the crocodile tears we want, Anthony, about, you know, Afghan women, but if they don’t have the security to prevent, you know, these criminals, these jihadist terrorists perverted interpretation of Islam to justify their criminal acts, then what can you do? You can’t do anything without that kind of fundamental security.
MASON: But General, I mean, if you look at South Korea – I mean, in Korea, the people in control there want us there. The difference in Afghanistan is that there is a large element of the country that doesn’t.
MCMASTER: Did you see the images of people running next to that C-17 aircraft? Did they want us there? Did they want the Taliban there? I think this is really a false narrative. We did everything we could to deliver psychological blows to the Afghan government and the armed forces on our way out, right? We began to negotiate with these criminals in Qatar without the Afghan government. What did that do for the legitimacy of the Afghan government? We made concession after concession. We forced them to release 5,000 of the most heinous people on Earth, who returned immediately to the battlefield and began to again victimize the Afghan people. I mean, I don’t know, do you think the Afghan people are welcoming the Taliban under these conditions? I don’t think so. Many of them have accommodated with them, because why, they looked over their shoulders and said, “Who’s got our back?” And we said, “Not us, we’re leaving.”
MASON: But a lot of Americans would look at this, General, and say we spent 20 years there, billions of dollars trying to build up their army which collapsed in a matter of days.
MCMASTER: Okay, Anthony, we withdrew 2,500 troops. How many are there now, right? So wars don’t end when one party decides to disengage. The Taliban, Al Qaeda, which is completely intertwined with the Taliban, didn’t say, “Oh, hey, the Americans aren’t here anymore, let’s just stop the jihad.” So we have our own narrative, our narcissistic, self-referential narrative about ending the endless wars. But hey, guess what? Wars don’t end when we leave and our enemies are fighting an endless jihad.
MASON: It certainly is a scary situation there right now. General McMaster, thank you so much for being with us this morning, we do appreciate it.
MCMASTER: Thank you, Anthony.
