Biden blames Trump for forcing his hand on a total troop withdrawal from Afghanistan claiming his predecessor 'left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001'
Joe Biden on Saturday said Donald Trump 'left the Taliban in the strongest military position since 2001' and blamed his predecessor for the militants' swift takeover of most of Afghanistan upon the U.S. troop withdrawal.
'When I came to office, I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor—which he invited the Taliban to discuss at Camp David on the eve of 9/11 of 2019—that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on US forces,' Biden wrote in a statement Saturday.
'Shortly before he left office, he also drew US forces down to a bare minimum of 2,500,' the president continued in blaming former President Trump for the unfolding disaster in Afghanistan. 'Therefore, when I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our forces and our allies' forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country's civil conflict.'
As the Taliban continues to overtake the majority of the country, forces reached the Capital City of Kabul on Sunday with officials seeking the unconditional surrender of the central government.
'Our leadership had instructed our forces to remain at the gates of Kabul, not to enter the city,' Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told BBC in an interview.
'We are awaiting a peaceful transfer of power,' he said, adding the group expects that to happen in a matter of days.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also blamed Trump for forcing the administration's hand on a total withdrawal by May.
'Like it or not, there was an agreement that the forces would come out on May 1,' Blinken told CNN on Sunday morning.
Biden wrote a statement from Camp David on Saturday afternoon where he blamed Donald Trump for 'leaving the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001'
Taliban fighters reached Kabul on Sunday and are awaiting the 'peaceful transfer of power' to the militant Islamic group
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also blamed Trump during a CNN interview on Sunday where he said: 'Like it or not, there was an agreement that the forces would come out on May 1'
'Had we not begun that process, which is what the president did and the Taliban saw, then we would have been back at war with the Taliban, and we would have been back at war with tens of thousands of troops having to go in because the 2,500 troops we had there and the air power would not have sufficed,' he said.
Blinken added in his interview on State of the Union that 'it's simply not in the national interest' to remain in Afghanistan, claiming other U.S. adversaries would like 'nothing more' than to see another decade of American forces diverted there.
'Come May 2nd, if the president had decided to stay, all gloves would have been off. We would have been back at war,' Blinken said in a second interview Sunday morning with NBC's Meet the Press.
He also said Sunday: 'We had to put in place an entire system to deal with this. Unfortunately none of that work was done when we came in.'
The militant Islamic group was able to seize nearly all of Afghanistan in a little over a week – a stunning feat after the billions spent by the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over two decades the build up Afghanistan's security forces.
An American military assessment estimated it would be a month before Kabul would come under insurgent pressure.
'I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan — two Republicans, two Democrats,' he continued. 'I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth.'
Trump immediately fired back at Biden in his own email statement on Saturday claiming that due to the current administration's actions, the Taliban don't fear America's power anymore.
Trump hit back by saying the Afghanistan situation is a 'complete failure through weakness, incompetence and total strategic incoherence' by Biden
'Joe Biden gets it wrong every time on foreign policy, and many other issues,' he wrote.
'Everyone knew he couldn't handle the pressure.'
'He ran out of Afghanistan instead of following the plan our Administration left for him—a plan that protected our people and our property, and ensured the Taliban would never dream of taking our Embassy or providing a base for new attacks against America,' the former president continued.
'The withdrawal would be guided by facts on the ground,' Trump said of the deal he made in 2019 with leaders of the Taliban.
'After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent,' Trump added. 'That deterrent is now gone.'
'The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America's power,' he said. 'What a disgrace it will be when the Taliban raises their flag over America's Embassy in Kabul.'
'This is complete failure through weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence.'
In Biden's Saturday statement, he provided a list of five things his administration is doing to address the situation in Afghanistan. This includes deploying 5,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to assist in the total withdrawal of all allies and U.S. personnel.
'[B]ased on the recommendations of our diplomatic, military, and intelligence teams,' he said, 'I have authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 US troops to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance.'
Around 1,000 service members are already on the ground and 3,000 more were already being sent next week, before officials announced the deployment of an extra 1,000 as the situation escalated over the weekend.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan will be evacuated in 72 hours under the protection of the military, and some staffers have already arrived at the Kabul international airport.
The Taliban have moved to within seven miles of Kabul, and taken over swathes of territory across the rest of Afghanistan. The warlords now control 19 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces
Biden also announced Saturday he is sending in 5,000 troops to help with the evacuation of U.S. and ally personnel
Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Saturday to discuss the 'urgency of ongoing diplomatic and political efforts to reduce the violence,' the State Department said in a statement.
'The Secretary emphasized the United States' commitment to a strong diplomatic and security relationship with the Government of Afghanistan and our continuing support for the people of Afghanistan.'
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has slammed Biden for the 'complete mismanagement' of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Pentagon officials warned it could be just a matter of a couple days before the Taliban seizes control of Kabul, a city with more than four million people.
McCarthy said: 'The White House has no discernible plan other than pleading with the Taliban. The bungled withdrawal, reminiscent of his failed withdrawal from Iraq, is an embarrassment to our nation.'
'President Biden must continue to provide the close air support necessary for the Afghan government to protect themselves from the Taliban and make sure al Qaeda and ISIS do not gain a foothold due to the Biden administration's disastrous policies.'
But Biden hit back in a statement from Camp David on Saturday afternoon, insisting that he could not force the Afghan army to fight.
He said: 'One more year, or five more years, of US military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country. And an endless American presence in the middle of another country's civil conflict was not acceptable to me.'
Biden and first lady Jill Biden departed for Camp David on Friday and plans to stay there through Wednesday.
