Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed President Joe Biden for his assessment of the troop-withdrawal deal with the Taliban, and told the National Review that critics partially blaming the Trump administration for the current situation in Afghanistan are way off base.
“It is nonsense,” Pompeo told the National Review of the criticism. “It is, in fact, nonsense on stilts.”
Pompeo blamed Biden for incorrectly interpreting a conditions-based agreement he and former President Donald Trump made with the Taliban concerning U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“We knew this was going to take many, many months. Constantly trying to convince the Afghans that they were going to have to take down the temperature on their civil war,” Pompeo told the National Review.
“That they were going to have to find a modus vivendi for power-sharing amongst the different tribes and ethnicities. This is a millennial project. I was under no illusion that this would happen on my watch.”
Pompeo signed an agreement with the Taliban in February 2020 that established a May 2021 U.S. troop withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan provided the Islamic terrorist organization met a series of conditions, including making a complete break from al-Qaida.