Three questions for General Keith Kellogg, author of the newly released book, “War By Other Means: A General in the Trump White House” (Regnery Publishing), out now.
What should Biden have done differently with the withdrawal from Afghanistan?
[His] biggest mistake was he went hands off with Taliban/Ghani negotiations. The Doha Agreement was signed on 29 February 2020. On 3 March 2020, Trump called the Chief Negotiator for the Taliban and explained in no uncertain terms what was expected from the Taliban as a result of the agreement. He called President Ghani as well and explained the process and the number one agreement condition, which was successful intra-Afghan talks with Ghani and the Taliban. He explained that we would draw down to 2500 US Troops, 5000(+) Allied troops, 3000(++) CIA supported paramilitary and air support and “hold” with those numbers until all agreements were fulfilled. Trump created “forced respect” because they knew he would follow through with aggressive action if the Taliban did not follow through with their agreement. It was only after Trump left office that the Taliban put on their military offensive, because they believed there would be no US brokered agreement.
Why is the politicization of the top brass of the US military a concern for you?
Over the past decade, senior leaders have become more involved with political decision-making. Much of it was obstructionism by senior defense leaders slowly reacting to civilian guidance. My biggest concern was the blurring of the Constitutional role of who is the Commander-in-Chief and the execution of decisions made by the President…the term was “slow rolling.”
What’s your takeaway from the American COVID response?
Ultimately we were successful. Within one year we developed not one, but three, vaccines. No other nation in the world can claim that. Vaccine development was a historic medical breakthrough created by a Trump initiative, Operation Warp Speed. During COVID we were constantly battling a negative and skeptical press. Virtually no one believed we could get a vaccine done in record time.