Trump is claiming that the situation in Afghanistan would be 'totally different' with a Trump administration in charge
- Trump released six statements blasting Biden for his handling of the crisis in Afghanistan.
- He said the outcome in Afghanistan "would have been totally different" with him in charge.
- Meanwhile, the GOP is glossing over how it was the Trump administration that brokered a deal with the Taliban last year for the US to withdraw its troops.
Former President Donald Trump released six bite-sized statements on Afghanistan on August 16, blasting President Joe Biden for the way he handled the US troop withdrawal and claiming that the Trump administration would have managed the situation better.
Taliban fighters entered Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and took over the presidential palace earlier this week. The Taliban seized power following the withdrawal of American troops and a hurried evacuation of US diplomats.
"First Joe Biden surrendered to COVID, and it has come roaring back. Then he surrendered to the Taliban, who has quickly overtaken Afghanistan and destroyed confidence in American power and influence," Trump wrote. "The outcome in Afghanistan, including the withdrawal, would have been totally different if the Trump Administration had been in charge. Who or what will Joe Biden surrender to next? Someone should ask him, if they can find him."
Trump also called Afghanistan the "most embarrassing military outcome in the history of the United States." In addition, he also called the way the US left the country "grossly incompetent."
On August 14, Biden pointed the finger squarely at Trump, saying his predecessor left the Taliban "in the strongest position militarily since 2001."
"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 said in a statement on Saturday. "Shortly before he left office, he also drew US forces down to a bare minimum of 2,500."
The Trump administration brokered a deal with the Taliban in February last year, stating that the US would withdraw its military presence within 14 months.
On August 15, Trump responded to Biden, blaming him for not "following the plan (the Trump) Administration left for him."
Insider's Oma Seddiq and John Haltiwanger reported on August 16 how GOP figures like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham are laying into Biden for handling the Afghanistan withdrawal while glossing over Trump's agreement with the Taliban.
The Republican National Committee on Sunday removed a page lauding Trump's deal with the Taliban. Mike Reed, the deputy chief of staff at the RNC, tweeted, however, that the page was removed during a routine process of transferring old posts to a new website.
Taliban is now set to formally retake power in the country and plans to rename it the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, photos and videos have shown people desperately attempting to flee Afghanistan by scaling a jet bridge and clinging onto the sides of a US Air Force plane. At least five people have been killed during the chaos at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. The US military was still trying to clear crowds off the Kabul airport's runway on August 16 after evacuations were temporarily halted.