Donald Trump blasts Joe Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal

Former President Donald Trump joined "Life, Liberty & Levin" on Sunday to discuss his upcoming book, "Our Journey Together," and critique the Biden administration.  

Reflecting on his time as president and his reasoning for writing a book, he said, "I wanted to do something that showed how beautiful it was, and it was a beautiful period of time."

Trump said his time in office is made even "more beautiful" when compared to the nation's current state of affairs, which he referred to as catastrophic. "Inflation is eating our people alive," he said. "The southern border has never been like this, ever. Countries are emptying out their jails into the United States. We're like a dumping ground."

Turning to the Biden Administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, Trump said, "The single most embarrassing moment in the history of our country was the withdrawal from Afghanistan."

Trump said he was not going to take all troops out of Afghanistan. "I had it down to 2,500 troops," he recalled. "I was going to keep Bagram [Air Base], because of China, not because of Afghanistan ... You know who's in Bagram right now? China. They're going to take it over. They're inspecting it. They want it."

While Trump has stood strong against Chinese influence, he criticized Biden as being "bought and paid for" by China. The emerging superpower has met with Taliban officials. The Chinese Communist Party may be eyeing Afghanistan's rare-earth metals and see an opportunity to exert more control over the jihadist-controlled nation through their Belt and Road initiative, which seeks to gain sway over developing nations through debt diplomacy.

He said billons of dollars were spent building Bagram, and he would have maintained U.S. control over the airfield while bombing all other American facilities in Afghanistan. 

"I saw they had a military parade, the Taliban, and they were parading all of our vehicles," the 45th president said. "They had a parade showing off their weapons, showing off their rifles — 700,000 machine guns, and rifles and guns. Many of them are right now in China or Russia, but many of them are on the black market ... They had the latest model. I don't think there's ever been anything so terrible."

American weapons are also being openly sold by Afghan gun dealers, according to an October New York Times report.

Trump also remembered the 13 service members killed during the evacuation, but said, "nobody mentions the 28 soldiers who were just obliterated, so badly hurt."

"I met with many of the parents, and these are great people," Trump said. 

Biden was slammed after appearing to check his watch as bodies of fallen service members were unloaded from the plane. While the current president met with some of the gold star families, several said it was an unsympathetic experience. 

"I was able to stand about 15 seconds of his fake, scripted apology, and I had to walk away," Cheyenne McCullum, sister of fallen Marine Rylee McCullum, told "Fox & Friends."

Fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmit's father told Sean Hannity, "He talked a bit more about his own son than he did my son," and he found Biden's watch check "disrespectful."

Trump reiterated to Levin, "I think it's the most embarrassing and humiliating period in the history of my country."