Nikki Haley on Fox Decries ‘Softball’ Questions to Pentagon About Afghan Withdrawal, Asking Austin and Milley About ‘Their Pain’

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley decried what she called “the most softball questions I’ve ever heard” during the Pentagon press briefing on Wednesday.

During an appearance on Fox News’ America Reports, Haley said she was “really disturbed” by the press conference, which featured Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, and which came two days after the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan following almost 20 years of war there.

Only three reporters were called upon to ask questions.

All they did was talk about was how they closed this out. It was like they wanted a pat on the back. It’s like they wanted to say that ‘this book is closed.’ The book is not closed because you have hundreds of thousands of Americans still sitting there in Afghanistan that need to get out. So this book is not closed.”

And it goes against the moral code of the military, which is you leave no American behind. So Austin and Milley know that. They know that every military combat veteran like my husband is still thinking about the Americans that were left behind. Still thinking about the Afghan allies that are behind.”

So to imply that this book is closed, to say that you’re going to a diplomatic operation is implying that you are going to a hostage situation. There is nothing comforting about that. Now I appreciate that Gen. Austin is going to the Gulf right now, more than anything, we need to be making sure we rebuild these relationships with our allies that don’t trust us now. That don’t trust the decisions that we make. But don’t forget the military combat veterans, the veterans all over this country are sitting there and thinking, ‘But what about those we left behind?’ They have to answer that.

Haley then turned her attention to Austin and Milley being asked about their, to quote Milley, “pain and anger.”

CNN’s Barbara Starr was the only reporter to ask them such a question.

“While your messages today from both of you, your messages of compassion and gratitude are certainly understood, in the last several days, both of you at multiple times have issued these kinds of messages and statements,” said Starr. “And what I’m curious about is, what do you see in the country with troops, with veterans, that makes you feel it’s a rare thing, that makes you feel these messages must continue as you have put out so many in the last few days?”

“And Gen. Milley, I was very struck you used the words ‘pain and anger’ and that you understood that it was out there,” she continued. “So as a combat veteran yourself from Afghanistan, can you help people understand that? Where does your pain and anger come from? If you can both explain your views on that.”

Haley mistakenly blamed “journalists” instead of just one, or calling out Starr by name or affiliation. She said that this questioning about Austin and Milley’s pain and anger was wrong in that “it’s not about their pain and anger,” rather “it’s about the pain and anger of the American people.”

“Those were the most softball questions I’ve ever heard at a time where we have a lot more questions that aren’t being answered.” As an example, Haley mentioned the conversation, reported by Reuters on Tuesday, between President Joe Biden and then-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in which the former apparently asked the latter to change the perception of what was happening in Afghanistan as the Taliban was taking over large swaths of the country.

“The total wrong thing for a president to do. You don’t go asking another leader to change perception. You go and say ‘Okay, something’s wrong. We need to change direction. This is not going the way we want it to go.’ That was a warning sign,” said Haley. “And because he was worried about the political optics, he’s asking a foreign leader to fake it as opposed to actually changing direction and doing things that would save more lives.”

Watch above, via Fox News.