Former US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster
CBS 60 Minutes: H.R. McMaster says Trump policy in Afghanistan partners with Taliban against Afghan government
"He, in effect, is partnering with the Taliban against, in many ways, the Afghan government," McMaster said of the president's plan in Afghanistan. See the full interview with the former national security adviser, Sunday on 60 Minutes.
Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and partnering with the Taliban has made the United States less safe, says H.R. McMaster, President Trump's former national security adviser. The retired lieutenant general speaks to Scott Pelley in his first interview about his new book on the 53rd Season Premiere of 60 Minutes, Sunday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on CBS.
McMaster calls the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan a big mistake and writes in the book, "Battlegrounds," that the region is a hotbed of terrorism. "Terrorist organizations who pose a threat to us are stronger now than they were on September 10, 2001. Those who perpetrated the mass murder attacks of 9/11 were the mujahideen-era alumni of the resistance to Soviet occupation in Afghanistan," he tells Pelley. "Today, we are facing an Al-Qaeda and an ISIS alumni that is orders of magnitude greater than that mujahideen-era alumni ever was. And they also have access to much more destructive capabilities," says McMaster.
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Update: H.R. McMaster rebukes Trump over Taliban talks (Politico)
WNU Editor: I do not agree with H.R. McMaster's claim that ISIS and Al Qaeda are more stronger today than what they were almost 20 years ago. Al Qaeda use to have thousands of fighters in Afghanistan pre-9/11, today not so much .... Pompeo: Less than 200 Alqaeda Left in Afghanistan (Khaama Press). I am also skeptical that they now have access to much more destructive capabilities. But I do know that involvement in forever wars do not serve America's long term interests, and staying in Afghanistan will only be a waste of blood and treasure.
