Democrats have turned the tables on Donald Trump and blamed him for America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts said Trump gave the Taliban leverage because the Islamist group “out-negotiated” him and caused him to “handcuff” himself and the Biden administration to a deal that gave all advantages to the Taliban.
The remarks came as House Republicans released a damning report condemning the Biden administration for the withdrawal that left 13 US soldiers dead. The Harris campaign hit back, saying it was Trump who negotiated the American exit and “cut a bad deal.” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, who led the House investigation, said the Biden White House had failed to “plan for all contingencies” and refused to order an evacuation “until after the Taliban had already entered Kabul.”
Morgan Finkelstein, the Harris-Walz national security spokesperson, called the report “shameless” and accused Donald Trump of trying to “trick” the American public into “forgetting that his own actions undermined US strategy.”
The White House also issued a statement stating that President Biden had inherited an “untenable position.” Spokesperson Sharon Yang said the Republican report was flooded with “cherry-picked facts” and insisted that bringing American troops home from Afghanistan was the right thing to do.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, a ranking member of the committee that produced the report, said Republican members had “taken particular pains to avoid facts involving former President Trump.” He added that Mr. Trump had committed the United States to withdrawal in a deal he struck with the Taliban while ignoring the Afghan government and seeking no assurances about human rights in the country should the ferocious Islamic group return to power.
Donald Trump has repeatedly described America’s Afghanistan exit as the most embarrassing event in the nation’s history and placed the blame firmly at Joe Biden’s feet. The State Department, which also prepared a report on the evacuation, blamed both the Trump and Biden administrations, saying they had equally failed to prepare for the “worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow.”
Nevertheless, media coverage of the withdrawal considered it a low point for the Biden administration, which may allow Trump to land a blow on the Harris campaign in the run-up to November 5.
