'Delusional' Trump raises eyebrows with new rant about the Taliban

Donald Trump faced mockery on Thursday after claiming that the Taliban would not have launched a new offensive in Afghanistan if he were still president.

The insurgent Taliban forces have overrun about one-quarter of Afghanistan after most U.S. forces left under a peace agreement reached during the Trump administration, and the twice-impeached one-term president issued a statement attacking President Joe Biden and baselessly claiming, yet again, that his election loss was fraudulent.

"Had our 2020 Presidential Election not been rigged, and if I were now President, the world would find that our withdrawal from Afghanistan would be a conditions-based withdrawal," Trump said in a statement issued through a spokeswoman who has not been banned from Twitter, as he was. "I personally had discussions with top Taliban leaders whereby they understood what they are doing now would not have been acceptable. It would have been a much different and much more successful withdrawal, and the Taliban understood that better than anyone."

"What is going on now is not acceptable," he added. "It should have been done much better."

The claims raised eyebrows and drew mockery.