Biden tried to ‘gaslight’ Americans by its report on Afghanistan
In turn, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Michael McCaul, described the report’s conclusions as ‘disgraceful and insulting’
The administration of US President Joe Biden tried to ‘gaslight the American people’ by publishing its report on US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, former US President Donald Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung has said.
“Biden and his administration are trying to gaslight the American people for their disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan that directly led to American deaths and emboldened the terrorists,” Cheung told the Daily Caller news portal. “The world has become a more dangerous place under Joe Biden.”
In turn, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Michael McCaul, described the report’s conclusions as ‘disgraceful and insulting.’
“President Biden made the decision to withdraw and even picked the exact date; he is responsible for the massive failures in planning and execution,” he said in a statement. “Congress must be given access to the full and complete record of documents from the withdrawal in order to get the answers on why the withdrawal was such a disaster.”
The report, released on Thursday, says the administration of former US President Donald Trump drafted no clear plan for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and is therefore responsible for mistakes committed by his successor Joe Biden in 2021.
In the White House’s opinion, further presence of US troops in Afghanistan would not change the situation in any way, so their withdrawal was imminent.
US withdrawal from Afghanistan
The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) and the US administration led by then President Donald Trump signed a peace agreement in Qatar’s capital of Doha on February 29, 2020. According to the document, the US and coalition members were supposed to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan within 14 months.
The Taliban, in turn, guaranteed that they would not use Afghan soil to carry out activities posing a security threat to the United States or its allies.
On April 14, 2021, US President Joe Biden announced his decision to end America’s military operation in Afghanistan – its longest abroad. The US launched the operation in October 2001. At the peak of hostilities, the number of US troops in the country exceeded 150,000 people. The bulk of US and NATO forces left the country in 2014.
After the United States announced plans for its troop pullout from Afghanistan, the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) embarked on a large-scale operation to take the country under its control.
On August 15, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country. By early September 2021, all US forces left Afghanistan, ending their two-decade-long presence in the country.
