Former President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden for the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, making him the second former commander in chief to criticize the Biden administration’s moves toward ending the two-decadeslong war.
Trump, who during his administration brokered a deal with the Taliban that enshrined a full troop withdrawal date of May 1, said his removal of troops would have been a “conditions-based withdrawal.”
On Thursday, the former president said he “personally had discussions with top Taliban leaders whereby they understood what they were doing now would not be acceptable. It would have been a much different and much more successful withdrawal, and the Taliban understood that better than anyone.”
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The comments came as the Taliban added a 10th provincial capital to their string of territorial gains while the United States’s withdrawal at the end of the month nears.
Trump called the situation in Afghanistan “not acceptable” and said it should have “been done much better.”
Officials in the Biden administration are losing confidence in the Afghan government and military’s capability to hold off the Taliban, and some believe the fall could happen sooner than expected, according to the Washington Post. Various officials said they believe Kabul could fall to the Taliban anytime from a month to 90 days, depicting a much more dire situation than the intelligence officials thought, which was that a fall could come as soon as six months after the U.S. completes its withdrawal.
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the fall of the Afghan government is not “inevitable,” though Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there is “not much” the U.S. military can do to help.
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Last month, former President George W. Bush also hit the Biden administration for the decision to pull the troops, arguing that the “consequences are going to be unbelievably bad.”
“I’m afraid Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm” after the troops finish leaving Afghanistan on Aug. 31, Bush said. “It’s unbelievable how that society changed from the brutality of the Taliban.”
