Trump transition team looks to court martial US military officials

The incoming administration is considering charging some US military officials with charges as high as treason, according to an NBC report.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF NOVEMBER 17, 2024 20:35

US soldiers walk near a rocket launcher missile at Basmaya military base in Baghdad (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED AMEEN)

President-elect Trump's transition team is compiling a list of US military officials directly involved in the withdrawal of Afghanistan to explore whether or not they could be court-martialed for charges as serious as treason, NBC reported on Sunday. 

A US official and a person with knowledge of the plan said that the incoming Trump administration is considering creating a commission to investigate the US military's 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. The commission would gather information about individuals who planned the maneuver, investigate how it was executed, and what charges military leaders could be dealt with. 

“They’re taking it very seriously,” the unnamed person knowledgeable about the plan told NBC. 

The Trump transition team did not respond to NBC's request for comment. 

The effort is reportedly being framed as an all-encompassing review of how the US first became engaged in combat in Afghanistan and how it ultimately withdrew.

TALIBAN FORCES stand guard a day after the US troops withdrawal from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, last month. (credit: REUTERS)

Leadership of the effort

NBC reported that Matt Flynn, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, will partially lead the endeavor. 

“Matt Flynn has nothing to do with the Trump transition team, much less leading any review concerning military justice matters,” said Flynn’s attorney, Mark S. Zaid, as reported by NBC

Zaid further wrote in a statement that “no one has sought out Mr. Flynn’s views on this hypothetical legal scenario.”