US President Donald Trump, in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, criticized the United States for leaving military equipment behind in Afghanistan, saying the loss occurred “foolishly” due to “stupid people” running the country.
“You know, in my first term we rebuilt our military and spent trillions of dollars [but] we lost some of it foolishly in Afghanistan because we had foolish people running our country,” Trump said.
The former president has repeatedly raised concerns over US equipment left in Afghanistan, particularly at Bagram Air Base, warning that he would reclaim these weapons from the Taliban. In September, he criticised the Biden administration for leaving military assets behind, noting that the Taliban displayed them publicly every year, which he described as occurring on “an ugly road” and something he could not tolerate.
Trump also suggested that some of the abandoned equipment could have been transferred to Pakistan instead.
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Taliban officials said they obtained the equipment as “booty” and are not willing to return it.
