WSJ editorial board flays Trump for defending Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: ‘We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement’

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board on Friday hammered President Donald Trump for completely botching the history of the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan.

Trump this week claimed that the Soviet Union in 1979 was "right" to invade Afghanistan because terrorists were coming into their country, when it reality the USSR went into the country to prop up a communist government that was under siege by rebels.

"We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President," the Journal wrote. "The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with three divisions in December 1979 to prop up a fellow communist government. The invasion was condemned throughout the non-communist world. The Soviets justified the invasion as an extension of the Brezhnev Doctrine, asserting their right to prevent countries from leaving the communist sphere."

Additionally, the WSJ editors called out Trump for ridiculing the assistance that multiple American allies have offered to the United States in prosecuting the war in Afghanistan over the years.

"This mockery is a slander against every ally that has supported the U.S. effort in Afghanistan with troops who fought and often died," the editors wrote. "The United Kingdom has had more than 450 killed fighting in Afghanistan."

Read the whole editorial here.