Trump Says Biden Should Resign for Responsibility Over Afghanistan Collapse

Former President Trump: "I Would Have Withdrawn Very Differently and Much More Successfully"
US Political Circles Clash Over Responsibility for Afghanistan Collapse

[Asia Economy International Desk Reporter] Former U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on the 15th (local time) that someone should take responsibility for the fall of Afghanistan and step down.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to AFP, Trump said in a statement that day, "Joe Biden should be dishonorably discharged for what he allowed to happen in Afghanistan." He added that if he had remained president, "the withdrawal would have been very different and much more successful." Trump had agreed with the Taliban last year to withdraw U.S. troops by May of this year, ending the 20-year-long Afghan war.

In another statement released that day, Trump sarcastically said, "What Joe Biden did in Afghanistan is legendary," criticizing, "It will remain one of the greatest defeats in American history." Besides the Afghanistan situation, he launched attacks on the Biden administration over the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., immigration issues, the economy, and energy policies.

The U.S. political sphere is also engaged in disputes over who is responsible for the early fall of Afghanistan.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Steve Scalise, Republican House Majority Whip, appeared on CBS that day and harshly criticized the Biden administration, saying, "Watching the evacuation of the U.S. embassy was very terrible." He called it "Biden's Saigon moment," adding, "Biden said we wouldn't see an embassy evacuation by helicopter like Saigon, but here we are." He compared the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan to the final helicopter escape operation during the humiliating fall of the Vietnam War for the U.S.

Michael McCaul, the Republican ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, appeared on CNN and said, "They completely failed. They completely underestimated the Taliban's strength," warning that Biden would be held responsible for the U.S. troop withdrawal and the subsequent Taliban takeover of Kabul.

Tony Blinken, Secretary of State and the Biden administration's top diplomat, defended the legitimacy of the withdrawal. Appearing on U.S. television that day, Blinken rebutted the comparison of the Afghan evacuation to Saigon, saying, "This is not Saigon." He also praised the successful execution of missions such as bringing the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks?the trigger for the Afghan war?to justice and preventing terrorist groups from attacking the U.S. from Afghanistan.

Some Republican lawmakers criticized both President Biden and former President Donald Trump together, arguing that Biden implemented Trump's agreement to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Representative Liz Cheney issued a statement saying, "The 'Trump-Biden disaster' began with the Trump administration negotiating with terrorists and claiming them as partners for peace, and ended with Biden abandoning Afghanistan, marking America's surrender."

Senator Ben Sasse argued that the fall of Afghanistan was the result of the foreign policies of two administrations that deliberately decided to lose the Afghan war.

President Biden received a briefing on the fall of Afghanistan from his security team at the presidential retreat Camp David that morning, but no related remarks have been disclosed. However, in a statement the previous day, Biden said, "Endless U.S. presence in another country's internal affairs is unacceptable," adding that if the Afghan government forces cannot defend their own country, it would make no difference whether U.S. troops stayed for one year or five years longer.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.