Story highlights "Well, I think he could have gotten out a long time ago," Trump said on Iraq in 2011.

Trump passionately argued for the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq for years.

(CNN) Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama for withdrawing US troops from Iraq in 2011, saying at the final presidential debate that the decision created a power vacuum that allowed ISIS to flourish.

But as late as August 2011, Trump took issue with Obama for not withdrawing troops quickly enough. In an interview with CNBC reviewed by CNN's KFile, Trump was asked why he called Obama "incompetent" over his handling of the drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Well, I think he could have gotten out a long time ago," Trump said. "These wars are a disaster. Iraq is going to be taken over by Iran the minute we leave. They're going to take the second largest oil reserves in the world — which by the way we should have taken. So, Iran is already 100% as sure you're sitting there Iran will go as soon as we leave and they take over Iraq and those oil reserves."

Trump also said China would take Afghanistan's mineral reserves once US troops left.

In a statement to CNN's KFile, Trump's senior communications adviser Jason Miller said, "Mr. Trump has been consistently anti-war and never wanted to be in Iraq, which is a clear contrast from Hillary Clinton who voted for and advocated our doing so. Further, the way Hillary Clinton pulled out of Iraq was a disaster and helped fuel the rise of ISIS. Her foreign policy has led to nothing but chaos and the rise of bad actors who want to do harm to Americans."

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