As the US Republican Party launched an offensive blaming Vice President Kamala Harris for the aftermath of the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan, former and current high-ranking US officers sided with Vice President Harris.
According to Axios on the 9th (local time), a group of more than 10 former and current officers, led by four-star General Steve Abbott, who served as Deputy Homeland Security Advisor in the George W. Bush administration, stated in a declaration that the chaos during the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan was the responsibility of former President Donald Trump.
They pointed out that former President Trump, in the last year of his term in 2020, signed a peace agreement with the Taliban excluding the Afghan government, which prevented the Biden administration, inaugurated the following year, from having enough time to establish an appropriate withdrawal plan.
At that time, the Trump administration agreed to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan on the condition that the Taliban cease terrorist attacks. However, this agreement paved the way for the Taliban's return to power and ultimately caused the fallout from the US military withdrawal.
They criticized, "This chaotic approach by (Trump) seriously hindered the Biden-Harris administration's ability to conduct the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our soldiers and allies at risk."
Sources said some of the officers who signed the statement plan to appear on TV next week to defend Vice President Harris on this issue.
This statement came amid the Republican Party's concurrent claims of Vice President Harris's responsibility regarding the Afghan withdrawal. The final US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 marked the end of the nearly 20-year-long Afghanistan war following the September 11, 2001 attacks, while also signaling the resurgence of the Taliban regime and becoming a 'dark chapter' in US history.
Despite the peace agreement being premised on the cessation of Taliban attacks, the withdrawal process resulted in a suicide bombing at Kabul airport that killed 13 US soldiers. The White House defended the Biden administration's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan while acknowledging that some preparations were insufficient during the withdrawal process.
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