US President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff has said that his boss’s comment which defended Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 2019 was born out of frustration.
Last week, President Donald Trump said that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan “because terrorists were going to Russia.”
“They were right to be there,” he added. “The problem is it was a tough fight.”
Speaking in an interview with CNN on Sunday, Mike Mulvaney, Trump’s acting chief of staff, said that the comments were born out of frustration.
“I think those are comments the president made born out of frustration from where we are and I’m not too concerned about the details,” Mulvaney said.
He rejected suggestions that Trump might be receiving inaccurate information.
“I have seen every single piece of information that goes onto the Resolute Desk,” Mulvaney said. “I have seen every single piece of information that goes to the [president’s] residency at night, and I have not seen anything objectionable,” he insisted.
Trump made the remarks as he was criticizing US longest war in Afghanistan. He said that Afghanistan made Soviet Union Russia, because they went bankrupt fighting in the country.
The remarks drew Afghan government’s reaction as well.
“Soviet occupation was a grave violation of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Any other claim defies historical facts. Invasion was condemned by UN and international community. Heroic resistance and sacrifice of millions of Afghans for freedom and independence ingrained in history,” Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani tweeted.
