Ex-President Donald Trump (75) says he would have handled the Afghanistan withdrawal better than the Biden government. He says opposite Fox Newsthat there has never been a “greater embarrassment” for the United States than the “hasty” withdrawal of the Biden government from Afghanistan.
Trump attacks Biden during an interview on the twentieth anniversary of September 11th. “That this embarrassment takes place in Afghanistan, with the same people who did the damage 20 years ago – that is the greatest embarrassment in the history of our country,” said Trump.
“Looks like we fled”
He goes on to say: “There has never been anything like it. It looks like we fled, and all because we have an incompetent person at the head of our country. “
Trump, who as president negotiated an agreement with the Taliban for a troop withdrawal in May 2021, around four months before the actual troop withdrawal, claimed that this “would never have happened” under his administration.
Trump claims: “They would never have come near us. It would not have happened, they would not have taken on anything. “
Trump says he did better
The Taliban would have known that the US attacked under Trump. The Biden administration withdrew all US military units from Afghanistan on August 31, after the country fell to the Taliban.
Trump makes his opinion clear: “You should never have withdrawn the military first – you withdraw the military last after everyone is out.”
He is referring to the American citizens and Afghan allies who stayed behind after the US military evacuation mission, which expired on August 31.
The Biden government said the mission had moved from a military to a “diplomatic” mission. They also want to fly out Americans and allies who want to leave the country.
NATO criticizes its own efforts
It is assumed that around 100 Americans stayed in Afghanistan. However, some of them decided to stay there.
In response, Trump said the Biden administration was “standing like an idiot” and called their rhetoric “sad and pathetic.”
Politicians on the situation: Has the world failed in Afghanistan?(38:19)
But not only the ex-president criticizes the Afghanistan mission. Meanwhile, according to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (62), NATO has launched “a comprehensive investigation” into its own disastrous mission in Afghanistan.
“We have to learn from this”
He says of “Welt am Sonntag”: “The events of the last few weeks have been tragic for the Afghans and shocking for all who support them.”
There are many difficult questions regarding NATO’s engagement that must now be asked honestly. He says: “We have to learn from it.” (euc)