Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is once again bringing up former President Donald Trump’s 2020 deal with the Taliban, as the Republican nominee continues to criticize her for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan during President Biden’s first year in office. The events of August 26 marked the third anniversary of the Abbey Gate suicide bombing attack outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. This attack resulted in the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. service members, injuries to 18 others, and the loss of about 170 Afghan lives.
During a speech in Detroit commemorating the day, Trump placed blame for the “humiliation in Afghanistan” on both Harris and President Biden. In response, Harris’ campaign, in a statement shared with CBS News, is using Trump’s decision, and subsequent cancellation, five years ago to meet with Taliban leaders at Camp David to highlight the role his deal with the Taliban played in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. The campaign argues that Trump’s deal set a “virtually impossible” deadline and left the Biden-Harris administration with no plans for an orderly withdrawal, resulting in a dangerous and costly mess.
“Trump shamelessly attacks the vice president because he hopes he can trick the country into forgetting that his own actions put troops in harm’s way,” said Morgan Finkelstein, Harris campaign national security spokesperson. “Trump wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David just days before September 11th—think about that. He cut a bad deal with the very same people who violently took over Afghanistan and led to the collapse of the Afghan government.”
On September 7, 2019, Trump tweeted that a meeting with the Taliban was canceled after a U.S. soldier was killed in an attack by the terrorist group. Months later, in February 2020, Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban to facilitate a significant drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by the end of that year, in exchange for assurances from the Taliban that the country would not be used for terrorist activities. However, Taliban attacks on Afghan forces continued, leading Trump’s former national security adviser H.R. McMaster to label the deal a “surrender agreement with the Taliban” during a podcast interview.
CBS News reached out to the Trump campaign for a response to the criticism from Harris’ campaign. The attack at the Kabul airport occurred during President Biden’s efforts to evacuate American soldiers and Afghans out of Afghanistan, in line with a longstanding goal shared by him and Trump to officially end the protracted war. House Republicans are currently investigating the Biden administration’s withdrawal process.
President Biden criticized Trump’s Taliban deal but ultimately followed through with it, extending the withdrawal deadline by a couple of months to ensure troops were out by September 11, 2021, in order to avoid further military escalation in the region. “It is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself but it was an agreement made by the United States government, and that means something,” President Biden said in April 2021.
An August 2021 CBS News poll revealed that a plurality of respondents believed the removal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan went “very badly,” leading to a gradual decline in President Biden’s approval rating. In recent weeks, Trump has increased his criticism of President Biden and Vice President Harris over the attack and subsequent withdrawal.
In late August, Trump was invited to Arlington National Cemetery by family members of some service members for a wreath-laying ceremony. However, the visit was marred by an altercation between a cemetery employee and Trump’s campaign over the presence of a campaign photographer, which raised concerns due to federal law prohibiting such actions. During a speech at the National Guard Association conference in Detroit on the same day, Trump called for the resignations of Biden administration officials involved in the withdrawal process.
“It’s not even believable how stupid these people were, to allow this to happen to our country. And we became a laughing stock all over the world, and we buried 13 soldiers,” Trump added during his speech. In response, Vice President Harris reaffirmed her support for President Biden’s decision to end the war and paid tribute to the 13 fallen service members, praising them for their sacrifice in service to their country.
Prior to becoming vice president, Harris had advocated for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and an end to the war. In April 2021, she revealed that she was the last person President Biden consulted with before deciding to withdraw all remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan. As the chaotic withdrawal unfolded in August 2021, Harris emphasized the focus on evacuating American citizens and Afghan allies who had worked with the U.S. government.
“There’s no question there will be and should be a robust analysis of what has happened,” she stated during a trip to Singapore in 2021.
In conclusion, the back-and-forth between the Trump and Harris campaigns over the withdrawal from Afghanistan highlights the complex nature of U.S. foreign policy and the challenges of managing troop withdrawals from conflict zones. The repercussions of the decisions made by both the Trump and Biden administrations will continue to be debated and scrutinized as the situation in Afghanistan evolves.
