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‘Putin Was Watching’: Trump Says Putin, Xi ‘No Longer Respect Our Country’

Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
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Former President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin lost respect for the U.S. after the withdrawal from Afghanistan on “Hannity” Thursday.

Host Sean Hannity asked for the former president’s reaction to the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, the destruction of communities and thousands of deaths in Ukraine.

“My reaction is that this is so sad because this would have never happened. If we had the Trump administration this would’ve never happened and I know him [Putin] well and this was not something that was going to happen at all… When this horrible situation happened in Afghanistan, it’s not even believable how incompetent this was. The way they withdrew or surrendered, whatever you want to call it. Bad things started happening for our country.”

“The way they got out of Afghanistan, it looked like a complete surrender. And I’ll tell you, Putin was watching and President Xi was watching and the leaders of Iran were watching and Kim Jung Un was watching. They were all watching. And bad things started to happen, they no longer respect our country and that’s how this came about.”

The Biden administration received a wave of condemnation over the complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover in August, particularly after the deaths of 13 service members from the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. (RELATED: ‘What I’ve Seen Is Not Leadership’: Donald Trump Jr. Rips Biden’s Handling Of Ukraine Crisis)

The administration took steps against Russia Tuesday by banning all imports of Russian oil and gas, and placed several sanctions on their banks and exports. Trump called the sanctions “weak” and said Putin is only getting richer from the soaring oil and gas prices in a Feb. 22 statement.

The former president warned Wednesday that Americans “should be scared” of nuclear war and that the possibility of it is “serious.”