diff --git a/be/src/catalog/catalog-server.cc b/be/src/catalog/catalog-server.cc
index f14406daa..44352901d 100644
--- a/be/src/catalog/catalog-server.cc
+++ b/be/src/catalog/catalog-server.cc
@@ -302,6 +302,10 @@ DEFINE_bool(keeps_warmup_tables_loaded, false,
     "--invalidate_tables_on_memory_pressure is turned on. Otherwise, these tables will "
     "keep being loaded and invalidated.");
 
+DEFINE_bool(truncate_external_tables_with_hms, true, "Always use HMS to truncate"
+    "external tables. When false, HMS api is only used for tables being replicated. Using"
+    "HMS has the effect of deleting files recursively and triggering an HMS event.");
+
 DECLARE_string(state_store_host);
 DECLARE_int32(state_store_port);
 DECLARE_string(state_store_2_host);
diff --git a/be/src/util/backend-gflag-util.cc b/be/src/util/backend-gflag-util.cc
index 1dfe632f3..90385f0f4 100644
--- a/be/src/util/backend-gflag-util.cc
+++ b/be/src/util/backend-gflag-util.cc
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ DECLARE_int32(reset_metadata_lock_duration_ms);
 DECLARE_int32(catalog_reset_max_threads);
 DECLARE_string(warmup_tables_config_file);
 DECLARE_bool(keeps_warmup_tables_loaded);
+DECLARE_bool(truncate_external_tables_with_hms);
 
 // HS2 SAML2.0 configuration
 // Defined here because TAG_FLAG caused issues in global-flags.cc
@@ -552,6 +553,7 @@ Status PopulateThriftBackendGflags(TBackendGflags& cfg) {
   cfg.__set_catalog_reset_max_threads(FLAGS_catalog_reset_max_threads);
   cfg.__set_warmup_tables_config_file(FLAGS_warmup_tables_config_file);
   cfg.__set_keeps_warmup_tables_loaded(FLAGS_keeps_warmup_tables_loaded);
+  cfg.__set_truncate_external_tables_with_hms(FLAGS_truncate_external_tables_with_hms);
   return Status::OK();
 }
 
diff --git a/common/thrift/BackendGflags.thrift b/common/thrift/BackendGflags.thrift
index ba42add11..445a40dc2 100644
--- a/common/thrift/BackendGflags.thrift
+++ b/common/thrift/BackendGflags.thrift
@@ -349,4 +349,6 @@ struct TBackendGflags {
   158: required string warmup_tables_config_file
 
   159: required bool keeps_warmup_tables_loaded
+
+  160: required bool truncate_external_tables_with_hms
 }
diff --git a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/BackendConfig.java b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/BackendConfig.java
index af81e4812..a2b44df2b 100644
--- a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/BackendConfig.java
+++ b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/BackendConfig.java
@@ -597,4 +597,8 @@ public class BackendConfig {
   public boolean keepsWarmupTablesLoaded() {
     return backendCfg_.keeps_warmup_tables_loaded;
   }
+
+  public boolean truncateExternalTablesWithHms() {
+    return backendCfg_.truncate_external_tables_with_hms;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/CatalogOpExecutor.java b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/CatalogOpExecutor.java
index f16e7b33f..76040125f 100644
--- a/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/CatalogOpExecutor.java
+++ b/fe/src/main/java/org/apache/impala/service/CatalogOpExecutor.java
@@ -3655,15 +3655,25 @@ public class CatalogOpExecutor {
     catalog_.getLock().writeLock().unlock();
     modification.addCatalogServiceIdentifiersToTable();
     HdfsTable hdfsTable = (HdfsTable) table;
-    boolean isTableBeingReplicated = false;
+    boolean truncateWithHms = BackendConfig.INSTANCE.truncateExternalTablesWithHms();
     Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.createStarted();
+
+    if (truncateWithHms && !params.isDelete_stats()) {
+      throw new ImpalaRuntimeException("Setting the query option "
+          + "'DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE' to false is not supported when the flag "
+          + "'--truncate_external_tables_with_hms' is set to true.");
+    }
+
     try {
-      // if the table is being replicated we issue the HMS API to truncate the table
-      // since it generates additional events which are used by Hive Replication.
       try (MetaStoreClient client = catalog_.getMetaStoreClient(catalogTimeline)) {
-        if (isTableBeingReplicated(client.getHiveClient(), hdfsTable)) {
-          isTableBeingReplicated = true;
-          // We will issue HMS API in these cases. Register in-flight event before we do.
+        if (!truncateWithHms) {
+          // if the table is being replicated we issue the HMS API to truncate the table
+          // since it generates additional events which are used by Hive Replication.
+          truncateWithHms = isTableBeingReplicated(client.getHiveClient(), hdfsTable);
+        }
+
+        if (truncateWithHms) {
+          // We will issue an HMS API call. Register in-flight event before we do.
           modification.registerInflightEvent();
           String dbName = Preconditions.checkNotNull(hdfsTable.getDb()).getName();
           client.getHiveClient()
@@ -3673,7 +3683,7 @@ public class CatalogOpExecutor {
               hdfsTable.getFullName(), sw.elapsed(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS));
         }
       }
-      if (!isTableBeingReplicated) {
+      if (!truncateWithHms) {
         // when table is replicated we let the HMS API handle the file deletion logic
         // otherwise we delete the files.
         Collection<? extends FeFsPartition> parts = hdfsTable.loadAllPartitions();
diff --git a/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/truncate-table-no-delete-stats.test b/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/truncate-table-no-delete-stats.test
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b69ff3e23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/truncate-table-no-delete-stats.test
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+====
+---- QUERY
+# First create a partitioned table
+create table t4 like functional.alltypes
+location '$FILESYSTEM_PREFIX/test-warehouse/$DATABASE.db/t4';
+insert into t4 partition(year, month) select * from functional.alltypes;
+compute incremental stats t4;
+# if DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE is unset then truncate should not
+# delete the table statistics.
+truncate table t4;
+show table stats t4;
+---- LABELS
+YEAR, MONTH, #ROWS, #FILES, SIZE, BYTES CACHED, CACHE REPLICATION, FORMAT, INCREMENTAL STATS, LOCATION, EC POLICY
+---- RESULTS
+'2009','1',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','2',280,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','3',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','4',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','5',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','6',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','7',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','8',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','9',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','10',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','11',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2009','12',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','1',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','2',280,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','3',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','4',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','5',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','6',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','7',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','8',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','9',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','10',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','11',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'2010','12',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+'Total','',7300,0,'0B','0B','','','','',''
+---- TYPES
+STRING, STRING, BIGINT, BIGINT, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING
+====
+---- QUERY
+show column stats t4;
+---- LABELS
+COLUMN, TYPE, #DISTINCT VALUES, #NULLS, MAX SIZE, AVG SIZE, #TRUES, #FALSES
+---- RESULTS
+'id','INT',7300,0,4,4,-1,-1
+'bool_col','BOOLEAN',2,0,1,1,3650,3650
+'tinyint_col','TINYINT',10,0,1,1,-1,-1
+'smallint_col','SMALLINT',10,0,2,2,-1,-1
+'int_col','INT',10,0,4,4,-1,-1
+'bigint_col','BIGINT',10,0,8,8,-1,-1
+'float_col','FLOAT',10,0,4,4,-1,-1
+'double_col','DOUBLE',10,0,8,8,-1,-1
+'date_string_col','STRING',736,0,8,8,-1,-1
+'string_col','STRING',10,0,1,1,-1,-1
+'timestamp_col','TIMESTAMP',7300,0,16,16,-1,-1
+'year','INT',2,0,4,4,-1,-1
+'month','INT',12,0,4,4,-1,-1
+---- TYPES
+STRING, STRING, BIGINT, BIGINT, BIGINT, DOUBLE, BIGINT, BIGINT
+====
+---- QUERY
+# Verify that truncate was successful
+select count(*) from t4;
+---- RESULTS
+0
+---- TYPES
+BIGINT
+====
+---- QUERY
+# Unpartitioned table case: Show that if DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE is
+# unset truncation removes all files
+# but does not delete table and column stats.
+create table t6 like functional.tinytable
+location '$FILESYSTEM_PREFIX/test-warehouse/$DATABASE.db/t6';
+insert into t6 select * from functional.tinytable;
+compute incremental stats t6;
+truncate table t6;
+show table stats t6;
+---- LABELS
+#ROWS, #FILES, SIZE, BYTES CACHED, CACHE REPLICATION, FORMAT, INCREMENTAL STATS, LOCATION, EC POLICY
+---- RESULTS
+3,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','false',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
+---- TYPES
+BIGINT, BIGINT, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING
+====
+---- QUERY
+# Show that the truncation did not remove the column stats.
+show column stats t6;
+---- LABELS
+COLUMN, TYPE, #DISTINCT VALUES, #NULLS, MAX SIZE, AVG SIZE, #TRUES, #FALSES
+---- RESULTS
+'a','STRING',3,0,8,6.666666507720947,-1,-1
+'b','STRING',3,0,7,4,-1,-1
+---- TYPES
+STRING, STRING, BIGINT, BIGINT, BIGINT, DOUBLE, BIGINT, BIGINT
+====
+---- QUERY
+# Verify that truncate was successful
+select count(*) from t6;
+---- RESULTS
+0
+---- TYPES
+BIGINT
+====
diff --git a/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/truncate-table.test b/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/truncate-table.test
index 084ed75c1..c8976da29 100644
--- a/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/truncate-table.test
+++ b/testdata/workloads/functional-query/queries/QueryTest/truncate-table.test
@@ -199,74 +199,15 @@ create table t4 like functional.alltypes
 location '$FILESYSTEM_PREFIX/test-warehouse/$DATABASE.db/t4';
 insert into t4 partition(year, month) select * from functional.alltypes;
 compute incremental stats t4;
-# if DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE is unset then truncate should not
-# delete the table statistics.
+# DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE=false is unsupported unless
+# '--truncate_external_tables_with_hms=false' (for that case, see
+# custom_cluster/test_no_delete_stats_in_truncate.py).
 set DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE=0;
 truncate table t4;
-show table stats t4;
----- LABELS
-YEAR, MONTH, #ROWS, #FILES, SIZE, BYTES CACHED, CACHE REPLICATION, FORMAT, INCREMENTAL STATS, LOCATION, EC POLICY
----- RESULTS
-'2009','1',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','2',280,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','3',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','4',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','5',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','6',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','7',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','8',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','9',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','10',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','11',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2009','12',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','1',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','2',280,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','3',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','4',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','5',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','6',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','7',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','8',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','9',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','10',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','11',300,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'2010','12',310,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','true',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
-'Total','',7300,0,'0B','0B','','','','',''
----- TYPES
-STRING, STRING, BIGINT, BIGINT, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING
+---- CATCH
+ImpalaRuntimeException: Setting the query option 'DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE' to false is not supported when the flag '--truncate_external_tables_with_hms' is set to true.
 ====
 ---- QUERY
-show column stats t4;
----- LABELS
-COLUMN, TYPE, #DISTINCT VALUES, #NULLS, MAX SIZE, AVG SIZE, #TRUES, #FALSES
----- RESULTS
-'id','INT',7300,0,4,4,-1,-1
-'bool_col','BOOLEAN',2,0,1,1,3650,3650
-'tinyint_col','TINYINT',10,0,1,1,-1,-1
-'smallint_col','SMALLINT',10,0,2,2,-1,-1
-'int_col','INT',10,0,4,4,-1,-1
-'bigint_col','BIGINT',10,0,8,8,-1,-1
-'float_col','FLOAT',10,0,4,4,-1,-1
-'double_col','DOUBLE',10,0,8,8,-1,-1
-'date_string_col','STRING',736,0,8,8,-1,-1
-'string_col','STRING',10,0,1,1,-1,-1
-'timestamp_col','TIMESTAMP',7300,0,16,16,-1,-1
-'year','INT',2,0,4,4,-1,-1
-'month','INT',12,0,4,4,-1,-1
----- TYPES
-STRING, STRING, BIGINT, BIGINT, BIGINT, DOUBLE, BIGINT, BIGINT
-====
----- QUERY
-#Verify that truncate was successful
-select count(*) from t4;
----- RESULTS
-0
----- TYPES
-BIGINT
-====
----- QUERY
-insert into t4 partition(year, month) select * from functional.alltypes;
-compute incremental stats t4;
 # if DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE is set then truncate should
 # delete the statistics.
 set DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE=1;
@@ -334,47 +275,20 @@ select count(*) from t4;
 BIGINT
 ====
 ---- QUERY
-# Unpartitioned table case: Show that if DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE is
-# unset truncation removes all files
-# but does not delete table and column stats.
+# Unpartitioned table case:
+# DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE=false is unsupported unless
+# '--truncate_external_tables_with_hms=false' (for that case, see
+# custom_cluster/test_no_delete_stats_in_truncate.py).
 create table t6 like functional.tinytable
 location '$FILESYSTEM_PREFIX/test-warehouse/$DATABASE.db/t6';
 insert into t6 select * from functional.tinytable;
 compute incremental stats t6;
 set DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE=0;
 truncate table t6;
-show table stats t6;
----- LABELS
-#ROWS, #FILES, SIZE, BYTES CACHED, CACHE REPLICATION, FORMAT, INCREMENTAL STATS, LOCATION, EC POLICY
----- RESULTS
-3,0,'0B','NOT CACHED','NOT CACHED','TEXT','false',regex:.*,'$ERASURECODE_POLICY'
----- TYPES
-BIGINT, BIGINT, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING, STRING
+---- CATCH
+ImpalaRuntimeException: Setting the query option 'DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE' to false is not supported when the flag '--truncate_external_tables_with_hms' is set to true.
 ====
 ---- QUERY
-# Show that the truncation removed the column stats.
-show column stats t6;
----- LABELS
-COLUMN, TYPE, #DISTINCT VALUES, #NULLS, MAX SIZE, AVG SIZE, #TRUES, #FALSES
----- RESULTS
-'a','STRING',3,0,8,6.666666507720947,-1,-1
-'b','STRING',3,0,7,4,-1,-1
----- TYPES
-STRING, STRING, BIGINT, BIGINT, BIGINT, DOUBLE, BIGINT, BIGINT
-====
----- QUERY
-#Verify that truncate was successful
-select count(*) from t6;
----- RESULTS
-0
----- TYPES
-BIGINT
-====
----- QUERY
-# Unpartitioned table case: Show that if DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE is
-# set truncation removes all files and deletes stats.
-insert into t6 select * from functional.tinytable;
-compute incremental stats t6;
 # table stats should be deleted
 set DELETE_STATS_IN_TRUNCATE=1;
 truncate table t6;
diff --git a/tests/custom_cluster/test_events_custom_configs.py b/tests/custom_cluster/test_events_custom_configs.py
index bcf86c9fc..a13686700 100644
--- a/tests/custom_cluster/test_events_custom_configs.py
+++ b/tests/custom_cluster/test_events_custom_configs.py
@@ -149,14 +149,7 @@ class TestEventProcessingCustomConfigsBase(CustomClusterTestSuite):
         # insert overwrite query from Impala also generates a INSERT self-event
         "insert overwrite table {0}.{1} partition "
         "(year, month) select * from functional.alltypessmall where year=2009 "
-        "and month=1".format(db_name, tbl_name),
-        # events processor doesn't process delete column stats events currently,
-        # however, in case of incremental stats, there could be alter table and
-        # alter partition events which should be ignored. Hence we run compute stats
-        # before to make sure that the truncate table command generated alter events
-        # are ignored.
-        "compute incremental stats {0}.{1}".format(db_name, tbl_name),
-        "{0} {1}.{2}".format(TRUNCATE_TBL_STMT, db_name, tbl_name)],
+        "and month=1".format(db_name, tbl_name)],
       False: [
         "create table {0}.{1} like functional.alltypessmall "
         "stored as parquet".format(db_name, tbl_name),
@@ -223,7 +216,14 @@ class TestEventProcessingCustomConfigsBase(CustomClusterTestSuite):
         "insert overwrite {0}.{1} partition(part) select * from {0}.{1}".format(
           db_name, acid_tbl_name),
         # recover partitions will generate add_partition events
-        "alter table {0}.{1} recover partitions".format(db_name, recover_tbl_name)
+        "alter table {0}.{1} recover partitions".format(db_name, recover_tbl_name),
+        # events processor doesn't process delete column stats events currently,
+        # however, in case of incremental stats, there could be alter table and
+        # alter partition events which should be ignored. Hence we run compute stats
+        # before to make sure that the truncate table command generated alter events
+        # are ignored.
+        "compute incremental stats {0}.{1}".format(db_name, tbl_name),
+        "{0} {1}.{2}".format(TRUNCATE_TBL_STMT, db_name, tbl_name)
       ]
     }
     return self_event_test_queries
@@ -337,8 +337,10 @@ class TestEventProcessingCustomConfigsBase(CustomClusterTestSuite):
       if (TRUNCATE_TBL_STMT not in stmt):
         assert tbls_refreshed == tbls_refreshed_after, \
           "Failing query(impala={}): {}".format(use_impala_client, stmt)
-      assert partitions_refreshed == partitions_refreshed_after, \
-        "Failing query(impala={}): {}".format(use_impala_client, stmt)
+      # TRUNCATE refreshes partitions
+      if (TRUNCATE_TBL_STMT not in stmt):
+        assert partitions_refreshed == partitions_refreshed_after, \
+          "Failing query(impala={}): {}".format(use_impala_client, stmt)
     else:
       # hive was used to run the stmts, any events generated should not have been deemed
       # as self events unless there are empty partition add/drop events
diff --git a/tests/custom_cluster/test_no_delete_stats_in_truncate.py b/tests/custom_cluster/test_no_delete_stats_in_truncate.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c7b922d4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/custom_cluster/test_no_delete_stats_in_truncate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env impala-python
+#
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
+
+import pytest
+
+from tests.common.custom_cluster_test_suite import CustomClusterTestSuite
+
+
+@CustomClusterTestSuite.with_args(
+  catalogd_args="--truncate_external_tables_with_hms=false",
+  cluster_size=1)
+class TestNoDeleteStatsInTruncate(CustomClusterTestSuite):
+  @classmethod
+  def setup_class(cls):
+    if cls.exploration_strategy() != 'exhaustive':
+      pytest.skip('runs only in exhaustive')
+    super(TestNoDeleteStatsInTruncate, cls).setup_class()
+
+  def test_stats_remain_after_truncate(self, unique_database, vector):
+    vector.get_value('exec_option')['delete_stats_in_truncate'] = False
+    self.run_test_case('QueryTest/truncate-table-no-delete-stats', vector,
+        use_db=unique_database)
diff --git a/tests/metadata/test_ddl.py b/tests/metadata/test_ddl.py
index 867fe6528..de9753014 100644
--- a/tests/metadata/test_ddl.py
+++ b/tests/metadata/test_ddl.py
@@ -177,10 +177,10 @@ class TestDdlStatements(TestDdlBase):
       assert len(self.filesystem_client.ls(
           "{1}/{0}.db/t1/".format(unique_database, WAREHOUSE))) == 2
 
-      # Truncating the table removes the data files and preserves the table's directory
+      # Truncating the table removes the data files and the staging directory
       self.client.execute("truncate table {0}.t1".format(unique_database))
       assert len(self.filesystem_client.ls(
-          "{1}/{0}.db/t1/".format(unique_database, WAREHOUSE))) == 1
+          "{1}/{0}.db/t1/".format(unique_database, WAREHOUSE))) == 0
 
       self.client.execute(
           "create table {0}.t2(i int) partitioned by (p int)".format(unique_database))
diff --git a/tests/metadata/test_recursive_listing.py b/tests/metadata/test_recursive_listing.py
index 8b00cc273..9e064a4ad 100644
--- a/tests/metadata/test_recursive_listing.py
+++ b/tests/metadata/test_recursive_listing.py
@@ -40,9 +40,6 @@ class TestRecursiveListing(ImpalaTestSuite):
     cls.ImpalaTestMatrix.clear_dimension('exec_option')
     cls.ImpalaTestMatrix.add_dimension(
         create_uncompressed_text_dimension(cls.get_workload()))
-    cls.ImpalaTestMatrix.add_constraint(lambda v:
-        (v.get_value('table_format').file_format == 'text'
-         and v.get_value('table_format').compression_codec == 'none'))
 
   def _show_files(self, table):
     files = self.client.execute("show files in {0}".format(table))
@@ -142,6 +139,18 @@ class TestRecursiveListing(ImpalaTestSuite):
     assert len(self._show_files(fq_tbl_name)) == 1
     assert len(self._get_rows(fq_tbl_name)) == 1
 
+    # Verify that TRUNCATE removes data files in subdirectories too.
+    # Regression test for IMPALA-13778.
+    self.filesystem_client.make_dir("{0}/dir1".format(part_path))
+    self.filesystem_client.create_file("{0}/dir1/file1.txt".format(part_path), "file1")
+    self.execute_query_expect_success(self.client, "refresh {0}".format(fq_tbl_name))
+    assert len(self._show_files(fq_tbl_name)) == 2
+    assert len(self._get_rows(fq_tbl_name)) == 2
+
+    self.execute_query_expect_success(self.client, "truncate {0}".format(fq_tbl_name))
+    assert len(self._show_files(fq_tbl_name)) == 0
+    assert len(self._get_rows(fq_tbl_name)) == 0
+
   @SkipIfFS.no_partial_listing
   @pytest.mark.execute_serially
   def test_large_staging_dirs(self, unique_database):