Trump is a weak and stupid old fool.

Afghanistan: US-Taliban deal hastened Afghan collapse, defence officials
say
29 September 2021
Reuters Gen McKenzie testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on
the conclusion of military operations in AfghanistanReuters
Gen McKenzie said the Doha agreement had a "pernicious effect" on
Afghanistan's government

Top US defence officials have said the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan
can be traced back to a deal between the group and the Trump
administration.

The so-called Doha agreement was signed in February 2020 and set a date for
the US to withdraw its troops.

Gen Frank McKenzie said the deal had a "really pernicious effect" on the
Afghan government and military.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin agreed, saying the agreement had helped the
Taliban get "stronger".

In addition to setting a withdrawal date, the Doha agreement included broad
obligations on the Taliban to take steps to prevent groups such as al-Qaeda
from threatening the security of the US and its allies.

After his election, US President Joe Biden continued the plan for
withdrawal but with an end date of 31 August, instead of May.

The US defence officials made the comments on Wednesday in testimony to the
House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

The hearing is taking place weeks after a chaotic withdrawal at Kabul
airport as foreign powers sought to get their citizens home and thousands
of desperate Afghans begged for rescue. A suicide attack killed 182 people
during the operation.

As head of the US Central Command, Gen McKenzie oversaw the withdrawal from
Afghanistan, which marked the end of a 20-year presence in the country and
America's longest war.

Gen McKenzie told the committee the Doha agreement had a strong
psychological effect on the Afghan government because it set a date for
"when they could expect all assistance to end".

He said he had believed "for quite a while" that if the US reduced the
number of its military advisers in Afghanistan below 2,500, the Afghan
government and military would inevitably collapse.

After the Doha agreement, he said the troop reduction ordered by President
Biden in April was "the other nail in the coffin".

Mr Austin said that by committing the US to ending air strikes against the
Taliban, the Doha agreement meant the Islamist group "got stronger, they
increased their offensive operations against Afghan security forces, and
the Afghans were losing a lot of people on a weekly basis".

The defence officials previously spoke to the Senate Armed Services
Committee on Tuesday, where Gen Milley and Gen McKenzie said they had
recommended keeping a force of 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, ahead of the
full US withdrawal in August.

Gen Milley also said the Taliban takeover would make it harder to protect
Americans from terrorist attacks, as he described the group as a terrorist
organisation that "still has not broken ties with al-Qaeda".
Gen Milley: Al-Qaeda may rebuild in Taliban-run Afghanistan

Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said
the militants had "given guarantees to the world that there will not be any
threat against any country including the United States from Afghan soil".

"We are committed to the agreement which has been signed in Doha between
the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the United States. We also want
Americans and its allies to be committed on the agreement too. Instead of
making negative comments it would be better for them to choose the way of
diplomacy and co-operation," he said.

Bodkin: Trump is a weak and stupid old fool.

Harris is a climate alarmist who has negative pressure between her ears.

On 2024-09-29 11:52 a.m., Relf wrote:
> Bodkin: Trump is a weak and stupid old fool.
>
> Harris is a climate alarmist who has negative pressure between her ears.

Trump: Joe Biden became mentally impaired, Kamala Harris was born that way.

--
CrudeSausage
Catholic, paleoconservative, Christ is king