On Sunday, former US President Donald Trump demanded that his successor, Joe Biden, resign for the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan, as US soldiers departed from the nation after almost two decades on the ground.
"It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed happening to Afghanistan," Trump said in a statement while criticizing him for a rise in COVID-19 cases in the US and domestic immigration, economic, and energy policies, as per Newsweek.
Trump mocked Biden over the tragic mess in Afghanistan
After being ousted by the US invasion 20 years ago, the Taliban have reclaimed Afghanistan in a lightning rush. They seized control of Kabul on Sunday, more than two weeks ahead of Biden's August 31 timetable for the withdrawal of American forces from the nation.
Under Trump, the US reached an agreement with the Taliban in Doha in 2020, which called for the withdrawal of all US forces by May 2021 in exchange for different security guarantees from the insurgents. When Biden assumed office earlier this year, he postponed the withdrawal date and did not impose any restrictions.
Trump has repeatedly chastised Biden for his decision, claiming that if he were still president, it would have been a far different and much more successful exit. The Biden administration is eager to remind that Trump negotiated the withdrawal agreement in Doha and that the majority of Americans support ending "forever wars."
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Joe Biden faces mounting criticism over US troops withdrawal
Biden has received fierce domestic criticism for mismanaging the withdrawal, with the US rushing to vacate its huge embassy barely a month after downplaying worries that the Afghan government might fall apart swiftly. As Taliban fighters invaded Kabul on Sunday, President Joe Biden and his administration sought to portray order amid a dash by American and other foreign employees to flee Afghanistan.
The rapid fall of Afghanistan's national forces and the government has surprised Biden and senior members of his administration, who only a month ago believed it would take months for the civilian government in Kabul to fall, allowing time for the full consequences of the withdrawal to be revealed after American troops had left.
Officials are now openly acknowledging that they made a mistake. On CNN's "State of the Union," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of Afghanistan's national security forces, "The fact of the matter is we've seen that force has been unable to defend the country."
Per WNEM, some members of Congress are asking the administration to explain how its intelligence could have so badly underestimated the situation on the ground, or why better contingency plans for evacuating Americans and their allies weren't in place.
The idea that President Ashraf Ghani's civilian administration would be unable to overcome the Taliban's advances is not surprising. Over the last year, intelligence assessments have provided varying timelines for what many national security officials saw as an inevitability.
Biden has stated frequently in recent months, notably when Ghani visited him in the Oval Office this summer, that if Afghanistan's leaders are to preserve power, they must resolve their disagreements.
However, the Afghan military's demise and collapse came faster than Biden and his colleagues anticipated. Two sources informed CNN that Ghani departed the country on Sunday for Tajikistan. Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, referred to him as "former President" in a video message.
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