McConnell rebukes Trump’s planned troop withdrawal in Afghanistan, warning of renewed ‘attacks against America’

‘A disorganized retreat would jeopardize the track record of major successes this administration has worked hard to compile’ in the Middle East, Senate Republican leader says

In a rare rebuke of Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned that the outgoing administration’s planned drawdown of troops in Afghanistan would “hand a weakened and scattered al-Qaeda a big, big propaganda victory and a renewed safe haven for plotting attacks against America.”

Mr McConnell couched his warnings about the hazards of an Afghanistan troop withdrawal in a speech on the Senate floor on Monday in more general praise for Mr Trump’s foreign policy achievements over the last four years. But the recently re-elected majority leader’s comments fit a larger pattern of pushing back — gently — against the president’s most anti-interventionist instincts in the Middle East.

“A disorganized retreat would jeopardize the track record of major successes this administration has worked hard to compile” in the region, Mr McConnell said on Monday.

US military officials are expecting Mr Trump to issue orders through the Pentagon as soon as this week to begin reducing the number of troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 apiece, several news outlets have reported.

The outgoing administration hopes to secure that size of presence in the two countries by 15 January.

Currently, there are about 4,500 US troops and military personnel in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Iraq who work in concert with local forces to prevent terrorist cells from re-emerging.

Mr Trump announced in a tweet in October his intention to bring all troops in Afghanistan home by Christmas, a priority that is looking more and more remote as his days in the White House dwindle.

One of the president’s chief pitches during his successful 2016 campaign was to stop “endless wars” in the Middle East.

The US Department of Defense has previously announced plans to draw down to zero troops in Afghanistan by May 2021.

But those plans are contingent on two things: First, whether President-elect Joe Biden continues down Mr Trump’s path of gradually withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, and, secondly, whether the Taliban follows through on a host of peace-keeping promises it made in a deal struck with NATO allies earlier this year.

The remaining US troops in the region participate in the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission that trains, advises, and provides resources to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

Western forces also have a counterterrorism command that works with partners in the country to root out terrorism threats.

Mr McConnell spoke gravely on Monday about the ramifications of withdrawing too soon — and too quickly — from Afghanistan, highlighting concerns from several top military experts that images of US troops abandoning equipment and facilities in the country would provide ready-made recruitment “propaganda” for terrorist groups who want to re-establish a foothold in the region.

“The consequences of a premature American exit would likely be even worse than President [Barack] Obama's withdrawal from Iraq back in 2011, which fueled the rise of ISIS and a new round of global terrorism,” Mr McConnell warned.