Ex-Trump National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster on Biden challenges

President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster had plenty of advice for the incoming Biden administration on foreign policy issues.

During an online interview about his book, "Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World," McMaster was blunt about the difficulties of crafting a successful foreign policy in the Middle East.

"Do not view the Middle East mainly as a mess to be avoided, because just when you think it can't get worse in the Middle East, it actually can," he said.

"This is not a call for vast numbers of troops in the region, or for the U.S. taking on the burden of all the region's problems," McMaster said.

"But also recognizing that our disengagement creates hedging behavior that makes the situation worse."

McMaster made the remarks during an event hosted by the Atlantic Council, the non-partisan organization that focuses on the U.S. and challenges in foreign affairs.

McMaster pointed to Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war following President Barack Obama's "unenforced red line," when Obama threatened military action against the Syrian regime if it used chemical weapons, but then failed to back up the threat.

"The problems in the Middle East don't stay in the Middle East," McMaster said.

Although McMcaster has largely held off on criticizing the Trump administration on foreign policy, he has recently been highly critical of Trump's recent drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

"Why do we care in Dayton, Ohio, or Peoria, Illinois or wherever about Afghanistan? And I think we can make that case," he said.

"We can say, hey, we are prioritizing our security here. We're going to prevent jihadist terrorists from ever again gaining a safe haven support base that they can use to commit attacks on the scale of 9/11," he said.

But he also argued the new administration needs to articulate a strategy "that will deliver that desired outcome at a cost that is acceptable."

McMaster also urged President-elect Biden to be skeptical of any effort by the Chinese Communist Party to shift back to a general approach of cooperation and engagement.

'I think the false promises will largely be in two areas," he said.

"The first of these will be in the area of of environment and climate change and that set of interconnected global challenges that we face," he said.

"And the second will probably be in connection with North Korea's nuclear program."

Image Credits: AP