President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke briefly on Wednesday about plans to go ahead with an investigation into former President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
The topic was raised by a reporter at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, who asked whether any of the leadership involved in planning that withdrawal had been relieved of duty or fired yet.
WATCH:
. @SecDef “We’re doing a complete review of every single aspect of what happened in the botched withdrawal in Afghanistan and plan to have FULL ACCOUNTABILITY!” pic.twitter.com/HUkLRKqs6r
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) February 26, 2025
“Have all the generals and command staff that were involved with the withdrawal fired or relieved of duty?” the reporter asked.
“Well, that’s a great idea,” Trump said, prompting laughs, before he deferred to Secretary Hegseth. “If I were — sorry, I’m not going to tell this man what to do, but I will say that if I had his place, I’d fire every single one of them.”
“That’s a very good question,” Trump continued, to more laughter.
“That’s a question we’ve thought a lot about,” Hegseth said. “We’re doing a complete review of every single aspect of what happened with the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan and plan to have full accountability.”
“It’s one of the first things we announced to the Defense Department for that reason, Sir,” Hegseth told the president. “Certainly, General Razin’ Caine, who’s on his way in, was not a part of that — instead, was a part of leading the effort against ISIS by untying the hands of warfighters and finishing the job properly and then bringing our troops home.”
“So we’re taking a very different view, obviously, than the previous administration,” Hegseth concluded. “And there will be full accountability.”
Trump jumped back into the conversation, getting more laughs when he added, “I don’t see big promotions in that group. I think they are going to be largely gone.”
