Trump set up Biden by negotiating directly with the Taliban, while leaving the Afghan government out of the discussions. He then agreed to a withdrawal of all U.S. forces a few months after he left office, because he didn't have the guts to do it on his watch. Finally, he made no plans for withdrawing our forces safely and refused to discuss the withdrawal with the Biden transition team.
I would add that Trump pressured the then Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners including a number designated as terrorists. Although the Taliban supposedly agreed that they would not to do so apparently a number of those released prisoners joined the fight against the Afghani government. I would also add that against the advice of his own generals Trump reduced the number of US troops necessary for an orderly withdrawal.
No question--Trump was a horrible foreign policy president. Afghanistan is only one example, but probably the most egregious.
This is one of several cases where Biden was blamed for spillover affects of Trump. While Biden obviously gave the final order, this was already in the works and being pushed hard by Trump. Then you have post Covid inflation that was in part due to excesses and inaction of Trump.
If Trump was intentionally trying to sabotage the entire situation, I don't know what he could have done to make it worse for the US.
Let's not forget that Trump abandoned the Kurds who were our allies in defeating ISIS on the ground, while the U.S. controlled the air. He back-stabbed them. Attached Files:
In the first 100 days of the Biden/Harris administration there were 60 executive actions taken, 24 of them were direct reversals of Trump policies. So saying Biden/Harris couldn't change something Trump did is laughable.
There's no doubt in my mind that Trump intentionally set up Biden. He took credit for reaching agreement for a U.S. withdrawal, but left the dirty work for Biden and knee-capped him on the way out of office. Knowing Trump, does anyone really doubt he'd do this to Biden, who had just beaten him in the election???
Those executive actions were unilateral actions, not two-party international agreements. Biden couldn't break the agreement, because Trump had already released 5,000 Taliban fighters (and their leaders) and withdrawn all but 2,500 U.S. troops, leaving us vulnerable to a resumption of attacks by the Taliban. Instead, Biden delayed the agreed upon withdrawal date a couple of months to buy time. But, he was still left with the mess Trump created.
I guess imposing sanctions on Russia, reversing sanctions on the International Criminal Court, or sanctioning Myanmar are domestic actions. Good to know.
Saying he could unilaterally change the terms of the deal like one can reverse an EO is ignorant at best
Trump negotiated the capitulation agreement with the Taliban. Biden had exactly two choices: withdraw essentially as we did or send thousands of troops back in, spend billions more tax dollars and resign ourselves to being there forever. What's laughable is your thinking Biden had a realistic choice.
The Taliban broke the agreement so there was no legal reason for Biden to abide by it. Biden wanted out of Afghanistan like Trump did. Biden as CIC could have done it any way he wanted. Timeline of U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan - FactCheck.org
So he stops withdrawal and Taliban resumes attacks on understaffed US positions. What next, send in thousands more troops for backups? Nope, djt served up a big chit sandwich and a little BBQ sauce wasn't going to fix it
Wasn’t that something that was needed when the business were told to close? I think congress pretty much voted almost totally in favor also. BS I’ve also been told post covid inflation was all supply chains and had little to do with fiscal policy, government spending and stimulus. Have those people been wrong all along.
