Tulsi Gabbard: Leaders in our country 'lost sight' of our mission in Afghanistan

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Tulsi Gabbard: Our leaders lost sight of the mission in Afghanistan

Former Hawaii congresswoman discusses the takeaways from America’s involvement in Afghanistan on ‘Sunday Night in America.’

Former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard criticized military leadership regarding the failed withdrawal efforts in Afghanista.

Gabbard joined Fox News host Trey Gowdy on "Sunday Night in America" to discuss the recent Senate hearings regarding military leadership surrounding Afghanistan.

"The United States went into Afghanistan to fight terrorism. Twenty years later, the U.S. is gone, but terrorism is not," Gowdy noted.

Remarking on Gabbard’s military experience, Gowdy asked for her opinion regarding the United States’ actions in Afghanistan over the last twenty years.

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"Overall, when we really look at the last twenty years that we spent there, I think there’s a few important lessons to take away. Our mission to go into Afghanistan, initially to go after Al-Qaeda, the jihadist terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, declared war against us, was justified. We sent special forces in there who very expeditiously and effectively defeated Al-Qaeda," Gabbard began.

Tulsi Gabbard 

She explained "What went wrong after that was when leaders in our country lost sight of that very direct and important mission and instead began to embark on regime change wars and nation building exercises and as we’ve seen over the last twenty years in Afghanistan specifically, even senior leaders in our government across Democrat and Republican administrations didn’t really know what our mission there was."

Gowdy then asked Gabbard about the victims of the terrorist regime, specifically the women who suffer under Taliban rule. Gabbard answered that while she empathizes with Americans’ instinct to help others, the "harsh reality" remains that the United States "can’t and shouldn’t try to be the world’s police."

"This is what is so hard, Trey. We, the American people, our natural instinct is to want to help others, to want to protect them, to do what we can to keep them safe. The harsh reality, however, is that we as the United States, we can’t and shouldn’t try to be the world’s police. We can’t and shouldn’t try to export American values and create many Americas in countries around the world because we’ve seen how, even with the best of intentions, these efforts throughout time have proven to actually cause more suffering and problems for the people in these countries in the short term and the long term," Gabbard said. 

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (Olivier Douliery/Pool via AP) (Olivier Douliery/Pool via AP)

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Gowdy asked Gabbard for her response regarding the revelation that military leaders advised President Biden to maintain 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan. Gabbard acknowledged that while a soldier’s job is to follow lawful orders, it is ultimately the president who is held accountable.

"Our military is civilian-led for a reason. As our military leaders may give advice, their best military advice to the commander-in-chief, ultimately, it is the commander-in-chief who is held accountable for making those decisions related to our military and related to foreign policy and is subjected to voters holding the commander-in-chief accountable when we volunteer to serve. When we wear the uniform, we salute the flag and follow those lawful orders that are given whether we may agree with them or not," Gabbard said.