'The die was cast': UK defense minister unloads on Trump for giving 'momentum' to the Taliban
Matthew Chapman
August 16, 2021
rawstory.com
On Monday, Business Insider reported that British Defense Minister Ben Wallace placed the blame for the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan squarely on the shoulders of former President Donald Trump.
"The die was cast when the deal was done by Donald Trump, if you want my observation," said Wallace on BBC Breakfast. "President Biden inherited a momentum, a momentum that had been given to the Taliban because they felt they had now won, he'd also inherited a momentum of troop withdrawal from the international community, the US."
"I think in that sense, the seeds of what we're seeing today were before President Biden took office," said Wallace. "The seeds were a peace deal that was [effectively] rushed, that wasn't done in collaboration properly with the international community and then a dividend taken out incredibly quickly."
Trump has sought to blame Biden for the current chaos, claiming that he had a "plan" for ensuring the security of Afghanistan.
However, experts have noted that Trump accelerated the current crisis by making a generous deal with the Taliban, proposing a Camp David meeting with Taliban leaders while excluding the then-Afghan government from the process, and releasing a number of Taliban prisoners including Mullah Abdul Baradar, the current self-proclaimed leader.
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