The Trump transition team is reportedly preparing a list of key military officers involved in the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan for possible court-martial and other punishments.
The team is considering whether to set up a commission to examine disengagement efforts, including whether any actions by those officials rose to the level of treason or other criminal charges. NBC News reported.
Two sources told the news outlet that the team may recall leadership members to busy duty and potentially charge them with various crimes.
“It is not clear whether the Trump administration would pursue treason allegations and could instead focus on lesser allegations that highlight the officials’ involvement. “You want to make a statement,” said the person with knowledge of the plan.”
The commission would examine how the United States first invaded Afghanistan and how it ultimately withdrew its forces from the region. The sources told NBC News that Matt Flynn, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, would lead the investigation, a detail Flynn denied through his lawyer Mark S. Zaid.
Flynn’s lawyer said his client had “nothing to do with the Trump transition team” and that “no one has sought Mr. Flynn’s views on this hypothetical legal scenario.”
President-elect Donald Trump has criticized repeated the botched withdrawal and promised to fire those involved after he took office.
Former President Donald Trump said at a National Guard Association conference on Monday that he would honor every senior military and diplomatic official involved in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco – hours after he paid tribute to 13 service members who died at died in an ISIS attack during the botched withdrawal.
“The humiliation in Afghanistan caused by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden triggered the collapse of U.S. credibility and respect around the world,” the 78-year-old told an audience that included part-time soldiers and their families in the Motor City after saying that voters will “hopefully fire Kamala and Joe on November 5th.”
“And when I take office, we will demand the resignation of every single official,” the Republican candidate added. “We will have the resignation statements of all senior officials involved in the Afghanistan disaster on my desk by noon on Inauguration Day.
A House Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation into the debacle found that President Joe Biden prioritized politics and his personal legacy over protecting national security and troops stationed in the region. The report said he ignored advisers, misled the public and took unacceptable risks in withdrawing.
Committee members said the president disregarded advice from senior military officials, NATO allies and intelligence agencies.
Biden-Harris have sought to blame Trump for the debacle – which left 13 American soldiers dead and many more injured – and claimed that the “Doha agreement” the Trump administration reached with the Taliban on withdrawal dates tied their hands. The problem with the argument is that Biden has previously shown “little respect” for the agreement, and some in Biden’s own administration argued that the Taliban had violated the terms and invalidated them.
A person familiar with Trump’s transition team told NBC News that the sources theorizing about the commission “seem to be the typical egotistical Washington, D.C. insiders seeking better positioning for their own administration duties.”
