Posted on 08/12/2021 10:45:15 PM PDT by blueplum
Former President Trump on Thursday slammed his successor’s handling of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and suggested that had he been commander in chief, the insurgent Taliban would be behaving much differently.
In a statement Thursday morning, Mr. Trump — who during his time in office authorized direct diplomatic negotiations with the Taliban that culminated in a February 2020 U.S. military withdrawal agreement — said President Biden‘s decision to proceed with the U.S. exit despite escalating Taliban violence is a mistake....
Foreign policy analysts generally agree that the Taliban intends to continue its violent offensive in order to gain even more leverage during negotiations with the Afghan government.
The framework for those talks was established under the February 2020 deal overseen by Mr. Trump, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Mr. Khalilzad. The deal called for the eventual withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan in exchange for security guarantees from the Taliban. Specifically, the group said it would reduce violence and break ties with terrorist groups such as al Qaeda....
...Mr. Biden proceeded with the U.S. withdrawal despite clear signs the Taliban was not living up to the agreement...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
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OK, that one really did make me LOL!
Who are these “foreign policy analysts” who think the Taliban is interested in gaining “leverage” for negotiations with the Kabul government? Do they not realize that Taliban is about to take over Kabul? Perhaps they are the same geniuses who think it will deter the taliban from being themselves by warning them that the international community won’t like them if they don’t behave. We are living in an age of irretrievable stupidity.
Seems like time is on the Talaban’s side.
Perhaps Trump would have gotten some agreements from the Talaban and then pounded them if they didn’t honor them.
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