Number of Trump insiders now attacking his Taliban treaty 'speaks volumes' about how bad it was: CNN's Avlon
On his "Reality Check" segment on CNN's "New Day," co-host John Avlon reported on the surprising surge of former top officials in Donald Trump's administration who are now coming out of the woodwork to criticize the former president's treaty with the Taliban, which is a major factor in the Afghanistan chaos under President Joe Biden.
As Avlon explained, "Most Americans seem to like the idea of withdrawing from Afghanistan, but they don't like the way Joe Biden has done it," before conceding, "This has been a disaster."
"But context is key," he continued. "The fact that a number of Trump administration alumni are speaking out against Trump's capitulation to the Taliban speaks volumes about how we got here."
Sharing a clip of former Trump National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster claiming, "Our secretary of state [Mike Pompeo] signed a surrender agreement to the Taliban. This collapse goes back to the capitulation agreement of 2020. I mean, the Taliban didn't defeat us, we defeated ourselves," Avlon emphasized "a surrender agreement."
"Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper also weighed in on CNN while rightfully blaming the Biden administration for the botched withdrawal, he did not spare the ex-president," Avlon continued before sharing a clip of Esper explaining, "President Trump by continuing to want to withdraw American forces out of Afghanistan undermined the agreement. I objected that we not reduce below 4,500 troops unless and until conditions were met by the Taliban. Otherwise we would see a number of things play out, which are unfolding right now."
"Avlon elaborated on Espers' criticism by adding, "Which is a reminder that not only was the deal done with the Taliban was not good, but that Trump was calling for a complete pull-out of U.S. troops by last Christmas. which would have been even more abrupt."
"Look, from whatever way you look at it, U.S. policy in Afghanistan is not working and while the collapse finally occurred on Joe Biden's watch, the policy of abandoning Afghanistan to the Taliban began with Trump," he concluded.
Watch below:
Leave a Comment