Sean Parnell: These are weapons made in America purchased by NATO

Sean Parnell: Yes, that’s a great point. Basically, these are U.S.-made weapons, purchased by NATO. That’s what this agreement allows.

And regarding your point about the base and the audience, I completely understand the skepticism and fear—as someone who fought in Afghanistan for 16 straight months and witnessed the surrender of Afghanistan in 2021. It was horrible. My soul aches just thinking about it.

And if you look at U.S. foreign policy in the 20th and 21st centuries—whether it was overthrowing autocrats in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan—none of it has turned out well for the United States.

Especially if you look at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, what do we have? You ask yourself, what do we have to show for those wars? After being involved in Afghanistan for more than a decade—almost 20 years—we have thousands of Americans dead, tens of thousands of Americans with the invisible wounds of war, and hundreds of thousands of families affected by this conflict. And again, what do we have to show for it?

So the skepticism and fear of the audience are certainly justified. But I think it’s important to remember what President Trump said and did during his first term. He was a president of peace.