Afghanistan troop withdrawal a bad move, Mike Waltz says

The United States is gearing up for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, reducing the nearly two-decade long American commitment.

President Donald Trump wants to “end the endless wars.”

However, he doesn’t have his entire party with him.

U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, in an interview on Fox News, urged Trump not to do what President Barack Obama did in Iraq and try to “wish the war away.”

“I understand the President’s frustration: too hard, too long, too expensive – but at the end of the day, these troops are an insurance policy at keeping half of the world’s terrorist organizations at bay,” said Waltz.

Waltz, a former Green Beret and member of the House Armed Services Committee, asserts that the Taliban are not petitioning for peace in good faith.

“I have no problem with entering into a [peace] deal but so far, I don’t like this deal. I think this is a bad deal,” Waltz said.

“The Taliban has basically given us a bunch of promises. They promised to enter into a ceasefire, yet they’re still bombing children in Kabul. They promised to talk to the Afghan government and they haven’t done that yet.

“Most importantly,” Waltz added, “they’ve promised to keep Al Qaeda and ISIS at bay and even if you believe that promise – which I don’t – how do they have the capability that thousands of U.S. troops and a 300,000 Afghan man army have struggled [with] for the last 18 years?”

Waltz, who outperformed polls in capsizing Clinton Administration alum Nancy Soderberg in his 2018 race for the Congressional seat formerly held by Gov. Ron DeSantis, was endorsed by President Trump on Election Day.

That notwithstanding, the two differ on one of the key foreign policy questions of the 21st century.