Trump slams Biden's decision to mobilize reserve troops to Europe

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - Former US President Donald Trump on Friday criticized incumbent Joe Biden's executive order on mobilizing reserve troops for deployment in Europe.

"Biden’s decision to mobilize reserve forces proves that his reckless escalation in Ukraine is straining the US military to the point of disaster," Trump said in a statement.

Stating that Biden "confessed" last week that US military ammunition was badly depleted and nearing exhaustion, Trump argued that the US reserves were forced to support Biden's "calamitous" policy in Europe while its own borders were vulnerable.

"The last thing this incompetent administration should be doing is pushing us further toward 'World War Three'. Yet Biden has proclaimed that he will continue sending American treasure and weaponry to fuel endless war in Ukraine for 'as long as it takes'," he said.

He reiterated that he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if he becomes president, and said, "Not one American mother or father wants to send their child to die in Eastern Europe."

- Reactions from Republican lawmakers

Republican Senator Ted Cruz, in a post on Twitter, described Biden's decision as "reckless and dangerous" and argued that American soldiers should never be sent to fight in Ukraine.

Senator Mike Lee, on the other hand, pointed out that there is an active war on NATO's eastern flank and argued that the decision was a dangerous provocation.

- White House response

"They need to get their facts straight. This mobilization is not an increase, but to rotate troops," said Andrew Bates, White House deputy spokesman, said in a statement.

Noting that Republican lawmakers are damaging military preparedness and military families with an "unrelated political agenda," Bates said, "American service members and their families are not pawns."

With the executive order he signed Thursday, Biden authorized the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) and the Department of Homeland Security to mobilize up to 3,000 reserve troops within and around the area of responsibility of the US European Command.

Biden also said in an interview with CNN last week that the ammunition of Ukraine and the US is running low.