2020 Democratic presidential candidate and Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar on Sunday expressed concern over President Trump’s ability to foster a stable relationship with the Taliban.
“It is another example of the president treating foreign policy like some kind of game show. It’s not a game show, these are terrorists,” Klobuchar said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
Trump abruptly canceled a secretly planned meeting with Taliban leaders that was supposed to be held at Camp David just days before the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
“Like so many leaders, I spent last night trying to figure out the meaning on the president’s tweet. To me this is just no way to conduct foreign policy,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar stressed that the United States should be negotiating with the Afghan government as well as the Taliban to end the nearly two-decade long war. The Taliban have adamantly refused to talk with the Afghan government until the group reaches an agreement with the U.S.
The Minnesota senator referred to Trump’s now-canceled meeting as a “hastily arranged summit which no one knew was happening.”
“He didn’t even seem to have an agreement or close to an agreement when he set the summit. Then the excuse that’s used to end the summit and take it down is the fact that, tragically, an American service member died, as well as other civilians. Then they keep negotiating after that happened, so the whole thing doesn’t quite make sense,” Klobuchar said.
She also said Trump treats his relationship with the Taliban similar to how he has dealt with North Korea.
“He loves the showmanship. He wants to have that moment, but then all the details are done and then we end up in a worse place on the world stage than we were before,” she said.
