Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, criticized President Donald Trump on Sunday, calling him immoral and untruthful and taking aim at his foreign policy decisions.
In an interview on ABC News' This Week, McChrystal told host Martha Raddatz of Trump, "I don't think he tells the truth." The retired general also responded affirmatively when asked whether he believes Trump is "immoral."
McChrystal said that contrary to Trump's claim, the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS, has not yet been defeated.
"I don't believe ISIS is defeated. I think ISIS is as much an idea as it is a number of ISIS fighters. There's a lot of intelligence that says there are actually more ISIS fighters around the world now than there were a couple of years ago," he said.
The president tweeted this month that "we have defeated ISIS in Syria" and abruptly announced plans to withdraw all U.S. forces from that country, against the counsel of his top advisers.
The decision -- along with Trump's directive days later to withdraw nearly half of the more than 14,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan -- prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
McChrystal, who recently co-wrote a book on leadership, on Sunday praised Mattis as "selfless" and "committed" and said his departure should give Americans pause. He also decried Trump's decision on Afghanistan.
"If you tell the Taliban that we are absolutely leaving on date certain, cutting down, weakening ourselves, their incentives to try to cut a deal drop dramatically," McChrystal said.
McChrystal also said he's worried that the Afghan people will lose confidence in the U.S. as an ally that can be counted on.
"I think we probably rocked them," McChrystal said.
McChrystal has been outspoken in his criticism of Trump earlier, as well. Last month, when the president pushed back against criticism from retired Adm. William McRaven by saying the decorated Navy SEAL and Special Operations commander should have caught Osama bin Laden more quickly, McChrystal rallied to McRaven's defense, saying there has to be a "confidence" in the "basic core values" of the country's leaders.
In Sunday's interview, McChrystal said he would decline if asked to work in the Trump administration, citing what he described as the president's lack of honesty.
"I'd say no. It's important for me to work for people who I think are basically honest, who tell the truth as best they know it," the retired general said.
McChrystal added that although he couldn't tell others not to support Trump, Americans should ask themselves whether the president embodies the country's values.
"If we want to be governed by someone we wouldn't do a business deal with because their background is so shady -- if we're willing to do that, then that's in conflict with who I think we are," he said. "And so I think it's necessary at those times to take a stand."
It's not the first time McChrystal has criticized a sitting president. President Barack Obama accepted McChrystal's resignation in June 2010 after he made scathing remarks in a magazine article about administration officials, including about Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Information for this article was contributed by Felicia Sonmez of The Washington Post; and by Kevin Freking of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/31/2018