Thomas Catenacci
- The Trump administration signed a conditions-based agreement “for bringing peace to Afghanistan” with the Taliban last year, the precursor to the disastrous withdrawal over which President Joe Biden presided.
- “We controlled everything. And they [the Taliban] were afraid to move. They wouldn’t have moved,” former President Donald Trump told Fox News on Aug. 26. “They wouldn’t have done a thing [without] my approval. Everything they did was conditions-based, conditions-based. And the biggest condition, you can’t kill Americans.”
- After the Taliban violently seized control of many key Afghan provinces in apparent violation of its agreement with the Trump administration, Biden doubled down on his plan to quickly evacuate all U.S. forces from the country.
The Trump administration signed a conditions-based agreement “for bringing peace to Afghanistan” with the Taliban last year, the precursor to the disastrous withdrawal over which President Joe Biden presided.
Biden referenced the agreement, which set the deadline for American troops to depart the country at May 1, 2021, during his April speech announcing that the U.S. would forge ahead with the withdrawal. The president said the previous agreement was “perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself,” but that he would stick to it regardless and order troops to leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, the 20-year anniversary of 9/11.
“Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do,” former President Donald Trump said in a statement days after Biden’s remarks, criticizing the decision to push the deadline back. “I planned to withdraw on May 1st, and we should keep as close to that schedule as possible.”
In the aftermath of the sudden collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government as the last American troops in the Middle Eastern nation were departing in August, Trump and his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have harshly criticized the Biden administration’s withdrawal. Trump and Pompeo claimed that their May 1 withdrawal plan wouldn’t have led to the Taliban taking complete control of Afghanistan because it was a conditions-based agreement.
“We controlled everything. And they [the Taliban] were afraid to move. They wouldn’t have moved,” Trump told Fox News on Aug. 26. “They wouldn’t have done a thing [without] my approval. Everything they did was conditions-based, conditions-based. And the biggest condition, you can’t kill Americans.”
Pompeo added that the Trump administration had a “model of deterrence” in place to prevent a chaotic withdrawal. He said the Biden administration had been unable to execute the plan.
Former Vice President Mike Pence repeated this claim, arguing that the Biden administration had violated the Trump-Taliban agreement.
Pompeo declined to be interviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“We’ll go back so fast”
On Feb. 29, 2020, Pompeo signed the peace agreement with Taliban leaders. The White House said the administration would be “watching the Taliban closely to ensure compliance,” and Trump said he would send troops back into Afghanistan if the agreement was broken.
“I want to congratulate everybody. I really believe the Taliban wants to do something to show that we’re not all wasting time,” Trump said during a speech after the agreement was signed. “If bad things happen, we’ll go back. I let the people know: We’ll go back and we’ll go back so fast, and we’ll go back with a force like nobody has ever seen.”
The deal had two central conditions that the Taliban appeared to violate in recent months.
First, the Taliban agreed to conduct negotiations with the Afghan government for establishing a peaceful government, according to the text of the agreement. Second, all sides agreed to a ceasefire to allow negotiations to take place, as part of the deal.
Over the last several months, the Taliban has swept through Afghan provinces, violently claiming the territory. Taliban fighters invaded the capital city of Kabul in August and forcefully laid claim to the presidential palace without participating in any negotiations.
After the key takeovers, Biden doubled down on the withdrawal plan.
The Taliban didn’t violate a third condition, which stipulated that the group couldn’t attack American forces as they left Afghanistan. The last combat death before an ISIS affiliate conducted an attack killing 13 American soldiers last week occurred before the agreement was signed, Reuters reported.
The Biden administration, which repeatedly said its hands were tied because of the Trump deal, ultimately forged ahead with the withdrawal despite these violations.
“The United States, in the last administration, made an agreement that the — with the Taliban to remove all our forces by May 1 of this past — of this year. That’s what I inherited,” Biden said on July 8.
Biden didn’t mention the conditions of the agreement during his remarks.
“This withdrawal and the nature of this exit is not a victory for America,” Pompeo tweeted Tuesday. “Leaders around the world are questioning if America will be a good ally, and our adversaries are seeing weakness from this Administration.”
Get Citizensjournal.us Headlines free SUBSCRIPTION. Keep us publishing – DONATE
[…] Quelle hier clicken Quelle hier clicken Quelle hier clicken […]
Who cares!
The issue is not what Trump would have done — the issue is what the Biden Administration DID do.
(I say “Biden Administration” as it’s pretty clear by now the duties of the President are being privately executed by insider, Obama cabinet holdovers. There’s a reason Joe Biden won’t accept blame for ‘his’ failures!)
And we wonder why this lasted 20 years.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/study-says-nearly-half-of-defense-spending-for-9-11-wars-went-to-private-contractors
Ohhhhhh, tRump’s Afghanistan withdrawal “plan”
It’s identical to tRump’s repeal-and-replace Obamacare “plan”
Big binder. Zero substance.
A comprehensive peace agreement is made of four parts: 1. Guarantees and enforcement mechanisms that will prevent the use of the soil of Afghanistan by any group or individual against the security of the United States and its allies. 2. Guarantees, enforcement mechanisms, and announcement of a timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan. 3. After the announcement of guarantees for a complete withdrawal of foreign forces and timeline in the presence of international witnesses, and guarantees and the announcement in the presence of international witnesses that Afghan soil will not be used against the security of the United States and its allies, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban will start intra-Afghan negotiations with Afghan sides on March 10, 2020, which corresponds to Rajab 15, 1441 on the Hijri Lunar calendar and Hoot 20, 1398 on the Hijri Solar calendar. 4. A permanent and comprehensive ceasefire will be an item on the agenda of the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations. The participants of intra-Afghan negotiations will discuss the date and modalities of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, including joint implementation mechanisms, which will be announced along with the completion and agreement over the future political roadmap of Afghanistan. The four parts above are interrelated and each will be implemented in accordance with its own agreed timeline and agreed terms. Agreement on the first two parts paves the way for the last two parts. Following is the text of the agreement for the implementation of parts one and two of the above. Both sides agree that these two parts are interconnected. The obligations of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban in this agreement apply in areas under their control until the formation of the new post-settlement Afghan Islamic government as determined by the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations. PART ONE The United States is committed to withdraw from Afghanistan all military forces of the United States, its allies, and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel within fourteen (14) monthsfollowing announcement of this agreement, and will take the following measures in this regard:
A. The United States, its allies, and the Coalition will take the following measures in the first one hundred thirty-five (135) days: 1) They will reduce the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to eight thousand six hundred (8,600) and proportionally bring reduction in the number of its allies and Coalition forces. 2) The United States, its allies, and the Coalition will withdraw all their forces from five (5) military bases. B. With the commitment and action on the obligations of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban in Part Two of this agreement, the United States, its allies, and the Coalition will execute the following: 1) The United States, its allies, and the Coalition will complete withdrawal of all remaining forces from Afghanistan within the remaining nine and a half (9.5) months. 2) The United States, its allies, and the Coalition will withdraw all their forces from remaining bases. C. The United States is committed to start immediately to work with all relevant sides on a plan to expeditiously release combat and political prisoners as a confidence building measure with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides. Up to five thousand (5,000) prisoners of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and up to one thousand (1,000) prisoners of the other side will be released by March 10, 2020, the first day of intra-Afghan negotiations, which corresponds to Rajab 15, 1441 on the Hijri Lunar calendar and Hoot 20, 1398 on the Hijri Solar calendar. The relevant sides have the goal of releasing all the remaining prisoners over the course of the subsequent three months. The United States commits to completing this goal. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban commits that its released prisoners will be committed to the responsibilities mentioned in this agreement so that they will not pose a threat to the security of the United States and its allies. D. With the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, the United States will initiate an administrative review of current U.S. sanctions and the rewards list against members of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban with the goal of removing these sanctions by August 27, 2020, which corresponds to Muharram 8, 1442 on the Hijri Lunar calendar and Saunbola 6, 1399 on the Hijri Solar calendar. E. With the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, the United States will start diplomatic engagement with other members of the United Nations Security Council and Afghanistan to remove members of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban from the sanctions list with the aim of achieving this objective by May 29, 2020, which corresponds to Shawwal 6, 1441 on the Hijri Lunar calendar and Jawza 9, 1399 on the Hijri Solar calendar
NOT ONE THING WAS MET BY PRESIDENT BIDEN