Former US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has accused of President Joe Biden of “complete failure of leadership” over Afghanistan withdrawal.
Referring to a recent State Department report, which castigates failures by both the Biden and Trump administrations, Pompeo said on Monday on Twitter:
“The Biden Admin’s Afghanistan report is a cover-up. They try to pass the blame but don’t explain why they abandoned our conditions-based approach. Or why they left Bagram Air Base before evacuating civilians. Or why they arbitrarily selected 9/11 as a final deadline.
“A complete failure of leadership. The catastrophic handling of Afghanistan encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine. Weakness is provocative, and we’ll be paying for these mistakes for years.”
On Sunday, former US Vice President, Mike Pence, in an interview with CBS News, also blamed the Biden administration for the chaotic withdrawal.
“The responsibility for that disastrous withdrawal falls squarely on President Joe Biden and the American people know it,” Pence said. He added that the Trump administration would have kept thousands of US troops in Afghanistan to support the US efforts against “terrorist elements” in the country and the region.
The Trump administration negotiated and signed the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan” with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020, with Pompeo present at the ceremony.
The deal paved the way for the US withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power.
