A former Army intelligence officer said President Donald Trump's speech outlining his strategy for Afghanistan was "effective" for a number of reasons, chief among them proving he's "listening to the military."
Andrew Peek told Fox News on Tuesday that by doing that, Trump has set a sort of red line with his own generals.
"By giving the generals what they want, he set himself up in two or three years to be able to say, 'OK, you had the opportunity; if things aren't better . . . you're all fired. We're gonna pull out, we're gonna do it my way,'" Peek told Fox News.
"He made it clear he's listening to the military, that any withdrawal would be based on conditions on the ground," Peek told Fox News.
Peek also praised Trump's decision to give ground command the ability to set rules of engagement.
Peek blamed former Gen. Stanley McChrystal for playing it too cautious as head of joint special operations in Afghanistan.
"McChrystal was a big believer in counter-insurgency theory, who felt that the better you got to know the population, the less you would have to shoot. And shooting, even if you killed a bad guy, was too risky if you were gonna hit a civilian," Peek said.
"But I think in reality what happened was U.S. forces started losing firefights and that was tremendously damaging to the morale of our troops," Peek said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.