Boehner on Afghanistan: ‘It’s time to pull out the troops’

Former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is backing President Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, while disagreeing with the administration’s timeline for pulling out.

“We’ve been there for 20 years, we’ve had our ups and our downs. But I’ve got to tell you that I think it’s time to pull out the troops,” Boehner said in an interview with Greta Van Susteren that will be released on Sunday’s “Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren.”

Boehner disagreed, however, with Biden putting a “hard deadline” on the withdrawal. He said there are still major threats in the region.

“We still have to be ready and able to respond if it becomes a haven for al Qaeda, ISIS or any other of these terrorist groups,” Boehner said. “We’re going to end up being back in there because these people are going to show up there. But I think we can do it without having troops on the ground.”

Biden this week said U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by September, 20 years after American forces first entered the country following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The president argued that it is “increasingly unclear” why the U.S. has been in Afghanistan this long.

“I know there will be many who will loudly insist that diplomacy cannot succeed without a robust U.S. military presence to stand as leverage. We gave that argument a decade. It’s never proved effective,” Biden said. “Our diplomacy does not hinge on having boots in harm’s way.”

More than 2,300 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan, a war that has also cost about $1 trillion.

“We’ve lost way too many men and women and spent over a trillion dollars there, tried to impose a Western-style democracy in a part of the world that they just can’t like quite gather, they can’t understand this,” Boehner said.