Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster

An American priority must be preventing the collapse of the Afghan government, lest the Taliban’s partners, including al Qaeda and other jihadist terrorists, re-establish a base to plan, prepare and direct attacks against the U.S., its allies and others who don’t conform to their perverted interpretation of Islam. Other objectives should include limiting the humanitarian disaster and ensuring that the gains the Afghan people—especially women and girls—made since 2001 aren’t lost.

Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster

First of all, we were there to preserve our and protect our own interests, our security interests. We know for a fact, right, we know from historical experience that terrorist organizations, when they control territory and populations and resources, that they become orders of magnitude more dangerous, right? We saw that with the mass murder attacks of 9/11. We saw it again when Vice President Biden thanked President Obama for ending the war in Iraq. Well, hey, wars don't end when one party disengages. And, of course, in Iraq, we saw al-Qaida in Iraq morph into ISIS, the most destructive terrorist organization in history. And then, of course, we had to go back. What I found also that I — was fundamentally, I think, wrong about the president's approach here is that he thinks that a lost war in Afghanistan isn't going to have consequences. We're already seeing the horrible humanitarian consequences, but there will be severe political consequences, in connection with our credibility with our allies and partners and other countries who will wonder how reliable we are. But, of course, it will have big security implications in connection with jihadist terrorists who will declare victory over the world's only superpower.

Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster

Some may cite the 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement as a reason not to take this step. But the Taliban never honored the agreement, continuing to work closely with al Qaeda and intensifying murderous attacks on Afghan civilians. Why should the U.S. adhere to an agreement that the other party has abrogated?

Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster

This is very disappointing, and really, this is something that our founders feared.

Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster