President Trump once again called the Afghanistan withdrawal “the most embarrassing moment” in the history of the US during an Oval Office meeting on Monday. The remarks echo similar criticism he made less than a week earlier.
Speaking alongside El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, Trump said the chaotic 2021 exit under President Biden’s administration had tarnished America’s global image and would not have occurred under his leadership.
“It wasn’t the fact that we left — I had planned to bring people out — but I would have done it with dignity and pride,” Trump said. “What happened instead was the worst, most embarrassing moment in our history.”
This marks the second time in a week that Trump has criticized the withdrawal. On April 7, at the Republican National Committee’s annual spring meeting, he referred to Bagram Air Base as one of the world’s most critical military outposts and said he would have kept control of it had he been president in 2021.
In his Oval Office remarks, Trump connected the Afghanistan withdrawal to broader global instability, suggesting that the departure emboldened America’s adversaries. “We didn’t have the Ukraine war, we didn’t have October 7 in the Middle East, we didn’t have inflation. And we didn’t have Afghanistan — that disaster,” he said. “That withdrawal sent a message.”
Reports last week about a US military aircraft allegedly landing at Bagram prompted speculation, though Agence France-Presse quoted a US defense official denying any recent American flight activity at the base.
Trump’s renewed focus on Afghanistan appears aimed at reinforcing a contrast with President Biden ahead of the 2024 election. “His messaging is deliberate — he wants voters to remember the withdrawal as a symbol of failed leadership,” said Nasrullah Stanekzai, a Kabul-based political analyst.
Still, analysts point out that Afghanistan no longer dominates Washington’s foreign policy agenda. “Even as Trump revives the issue for political gain, the reality is that Afghanistan has slipped far down the list of US priorities,” said Sardar Mohammad Rahimi, another political expert.
The Bagram Air Base, once the largest US military installation in South Asia, has become a symbolic flashpoint in Trump’s narrative — one that he continues to invoke as a lost asset and missed opportunity.
