Trump’s former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said President Biden “owns” the situation unfolding in Afghanistan during an exclusive interview with CNN’s chief international correspondent Christian Amanpour.
“Certainly there were more choices between the two binary options presented by the president. Only by better planning and extending the timeline and taking a more thoughtful approach and not relying on simple assumptions could have prevented this disastrous outcome that we are looking forward to.” … are in front of us right now. This is a humanitarian crisis that I fear will get worse in the coming days and weeks,” Esper said.
Esper told Amanpour that the Afghan people deserve better leadership over the past 20 years and that the “Afghan military” is “shifting the blame” for all this.
“We saw them fighting with the support of the United States and the Allies,” he said.
“The fact that President Biden owns it. He owns the mess he’s created over the past few weeks and should own it and really at this point, we have to address the situation,” Arizzo said.
Amanpour emphasized how talks with the Taliban began in 2020 by the Trump administration and affected the current situation on the ground: “It was started under your administration, the president you served. Can you take us to the conversation that was going on? Did you even imagine that it would result in something other than what we saw today?”
Esper said he eventually agreed with the overall policy of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, but added, “Just because negotiations began under the Trump administration doesn’t overlook the fact that, again, President Biden is in this position.” are in position.” We are masters of the situation, the implementation of its return that we now see unfolding before us. ”
Esper continued, “That said, the Trump administration signed a deal with the Taliban in February of 2020. It was a political settlement. It was on the grounds that I and many others inside and outside the government agreed. expressed.” And that was that the only way forward was a political settlement. Not a military solution imposed by the United States and the Afghan government. But a political solution and signed by the Taliban.”
That agreement included cuts to US forces and the Taliban agreed to ensure that Afghanistan does not become a safe haven for terrorists. “I was very clear at the time that this agreement has to be based on terms. Both sides need to meet their goals of the agreement,” Esper said.
“I thought, regardless of whether it’s a perfect deal or a big deal, it was a good enough deal,” he said.
Esper said it believes Trump’s continued efforts to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan “undermine the agreement” and that is why it objected to Trump’s push to pull troops by Christmas 2020. Arizona said it does not believe the US military should drop below 4,500 troops unless circumstances. met the Taliban.
“That said, with President Biden coming into office, he was not necessarily obliged to continue with the Trump plan. Not necessarily obligated to implement a political settlement. He could have taken … a Different way. He could try and renegotiate with the Taliban,” Esper said.
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