CBS's Gayle King accuses Afghan withdrawal critics of 'Monday morning quarterbacking'

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CBS host Gayle King took to defending President Biden's disastrous handling of withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan on Tuesday. 

The "CBS This Morning" anchor spoke with retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal to discuss the recent congressional hearings over the pullout of Afghanistan.

Cohost Nate Burleson acknowledged that top military officials recommended leaving several thousand soldiers behind contrary to Biden's claims that no one advised him to leave troops in the country.

MARINE WHO WAS JAILED FOR SPEAKING OUT ON AFGHANISTAN TO BE RELEASED FROM BRIG TUEASDAY 

"Top military officials, they said they recommended leaving a small force in Afghanistan, which is a contradiction to what President Biden wanted to do. Should they have done things differently?" Burleson asked.

McChrystal agreed that he would have also recommended leaving behind a small force in Afghanistan, though replied that he’s "biased" on that account.

vacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 23. U.S. service members are assisting the Department of State with a Non-combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) in Afghanistan. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Isaiah Campbell) (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Isaiah Campbell)

"Had I made the decision, had I been asked to recommend, I probably would have left a residual American force. But I was emotionally wrapped up in the mission, I spent a long time there, and I’m free to admit I’m biased," McChrystal said.

King later questioned if there were any way that "the plan could have worked the way it was executed" by the Biden administration. McChrystal responded that it "certainly could have" worked adding that the result of Afghanistan's military collapse "wasn’t assured."

"It was a decision to try to get American forces out with as little risk as possible, so to use speed. The fact that the defense forces of the Afghan military collapsed so quickly, it could have been predicted but it wasn’t assured," McChrystal answered. 

"And there’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking, a lot of ‘What we should have done, we could have done, why didn’t we do.’ And I don’t know if that’s necessarily fair," King commented.

"Well, I think, you know, you put people on the field, coaching the team or playing, it feels very different. And so I would say, you know, it didn’t go perfectly," McChrystal said.

The Department of Justice building before dawn in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. The Senate begins Donald Trump's second impeachment trial today with a fight over whether the proceeding is constitutional, as a number of conservative lawyers reject the defense teams claim that a former president can't be convicted of a crime by Congress. Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images ____ U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on infrastructure investments at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324 training facility in Howell, Michigan, U.S. October 5, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images  |   REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

Biden has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats over his handling of Afghanistan which left the country under the control of the Taliban and several hundred Americans stranded. Meanwhile, some members of the press have attempted to defend Biden from criticism.

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In August, MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan lambasted Biden critics saying "So forgive me when I say keep your views on the end of this war to yourself. Personally I would like a period of silence from all of you, if that's all right? And if you do feel the need to comment on the disaster that is Afghanistan, how about starting with the word sorry."

In September, CNN’s Don Lemon told viewers "I think people should stop beating up on the administration so much because no matter how it ended, everyone wasn't going to be happy with the way it ended."