Former President Trump on Tuesday claimed he threatened to launch strikes against the chief Taliban negotiator's home village ...
Former President Trump on Tuesday claimed he threatened to launch strikes against the chief Taliban negotiator's home village if insurgents failed to observe the terms of a peace deal, as he blasted President Biden's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
'It's not the concept of leaving,' he told Fox News anchor Sean Hannity.
'It's the way they withdrew. It was not even possible to believe.'
The former president has kept up a running commentary on the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan, condemning Biden's handling of the withdrawal and insisting he would have managed a safe, swift operation when the time was right.
Biden and his officials have in turn said their hands were tied by a deal struck with the Taliban by Trump.
But the former president said he made clear in negotiations there would be consequences if Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's political chief, failed to stick to the terms of their deal.
'We had a very strong conversation,' he said.
'I told them upfront, I said: 'Look, before we start, let me just tell you right now that if anything bad happens to Americans or anybody else, or if you ever come over to our land, we will hit you with a force that no country has ever been hit with before, a force so great that you won't even believe it, and your village, and we know where it is - and I named it - will be the first one.'
Former President Trump condemned President Biden's handling of the Afghan withdrawal, as thousands of Americans await rescue from the country
President Biden flew back to the White House from Camp David on Tuesday evening. His approval rating has plunged and the administration is in damage limitation mode as it deals with the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan. Biden did not call any foreign leader leaders until speaking with Britain's Boris Johnson on Tuesday afternoon
Biden stands by his decision to withdraw all U.S. troops and instead blamed Trump and Afghan leaders for the way the country collapsed
Baradar flew back to Afghanistan on Tuesday and is among the leading contenders to head the new government.
Trump's comments come after the Taliban - hours after they promised their rule would be 'moderate' - starting using whips and sharp objects to beat back Afghans crowded along the walls of Kabul airport.
One man was photographed with tears streaming down his cheeks, his face contorted in anguish as he saw his fellow Afghans being whipped.
Women were filmed reaching their hands through iron railings towards US troops while screaming 'the Taliban are coming' in footage being circulated on Afghan social media accounts this morning.
Meanwhile more footage revealed crowds hard up against concrete perimeter walls on the airport's military north side, with shots being fired over the heads of men, women and children to keep them back.
Taliban gunmen have surrounded the airport - the only route out of Afghanistan for thousands of refugees stranded in the capital and nearby provinces - and are checking the documents of those trying to reach it.
Islamist fighters were funneling people towards a gate on the airport's civilian south side, demanding documents before occasionally allowing someone to pass. Each time the gate opened, dozens tried to rush inside - with gunshots fired to keep them back.
Afghan translators and other visa holders trying to reach the airport have told MailOnline that they are in hiding near the airport, afraid to break cover and try to reach the runway in case the Islamists haul them away.
Others who have braved the gates told of how they were crushed, trampled and molested amid the crowds - without making it on to a flight.
A man carries a bloodied child, as a woman lays wounded on the street after Taliban fighters use guns fire, whips, sticks and sharp objects to maintain crowd control over thousands of Afghans who continue to wait outside the Kabul Airport for a way out
The Taliban turned on the crowd at Kabul airport on Tuesday, driving the hundreds back from the airport perimeter as they pushed to flee the country
A child covered in blood is carried away with his father after the Taliban used whips on the crowd trying to get in to Kabul airport on Tuesday
An Afghan woman is seen lying on the ground after the Taliban used whips and sharp objects to drive people from the airport
Taliban fighters patrol Kabul after sweeping through the country and seizing the Afghan capital within days. Biden is under intense pressure to explain how it could have happened
Crowds pictured outside Kabul airport on Wednesday morning, which is now the only viable route out of the country for thousands of refugees trapped in the capital
Taliban gunmen have surrounded the airport (pictured) with gunshots fired over the heads of arriving passengers, with British forces admitting that evacuations are only taking place with their 'consent'
Women were filmed pleading with US troops that the 'Taliban are coming' in footage that appeared to have been taken at Kabul airport this morning as thousands of desperate Afghans try to flee Islamist rule
The jihadists have been dubbed 'Taliban 2.0' for their media charm offensive in trying to persuade the world that they are 'moderate' compared to the Taliban of 20 years ago.
But reports today said militants were going door-to-door, rounding up looters and those who worked with the Afghan armed forces or government.
Exclusive video obtained by Fox News showed a convoy of Taliban fighters roaring down a street, then opening fire in Kabul looking for ex-government workers.
And the so-called 'Angels of Salvation' were dragging suspected robbers from their homes and lining them up against the walls with guns trained on them following looting.
One alleged car thief had his face covered in black tar before he was strapped to the back of truck with his hands tied behind his back and paraded through the city.
Footage shows an alleged car thief with his face covered in black tar and strapped up to the back of a truck, with his hands tied behind his back as people gather around to gawp.
A Taliban fighter whacks a boy across the back of the thighs as families cower under a bush
A fighter canes a boy who cowers with women and young children
An alleged looter is placed up against a wall with fighter training their guns on his back after he was dragged out of his house by the Islamist 'Angels of Salvation'
The Trump administration signed a peace deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, last year.
It was meant to be a first step towards an overall deal between the insurgents and the Afghan government.
Critics say it simply paved the way for the U.S. departure while the Taliban never honored its part in splitting from al-Qaeda and simply waited for the international troops to leave.
Matt Lewis, conservative podcaster and author, said Trump's naivete in negotiating with the Taliban and an invitation to Camp David (hurriedly withdrawn) was the 'origin sin' in the disaster.
'I just think it is naive and hubristic to think that they would negotiate in good faith and honor their commitments,' he said.
The former president made his comments after another frantic day in Kabul, where the U.S. and allies continued emergency evacuations of diplomats and civilians.
American officials said they were in contact with Kabul's new rulers, who had promised safe passage for those trying to flee.
Trump said the U.S. had never suffered a worse humiliation, with thousands of 'potential hostages' stuck in the country.
'You can go back to Jimmy Carter with the hostages. We all thought that was a great embarrassment and we were pulled out of that by Ronald Reagan,' he said.
'This is a many many times worse and you're dealing with thousands and thousands of Americans and others that are stranded and very dangerously really stranded in Afghanistan.'
Biden had botched the withdrawal by failing to bring home civilians and billions of dollars in military hardware before U.S. troops left.
And he compared the chaotic scenes at the airport with the final 18 months of his presidency and his threat of punitive action.
'We lost no soldiers in the last year and a half because of me and because of the understanding that we had,' he said.
'Think of that, in Chicago, and in New York and in other cities in the United States, many people die every weekend.
'We lost no soldiers in Afghanistan, because they knew I wasn't going to put up with it, and that's what happened.'
He said he had no faith in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country at the weekend.
'I thought he was a crook and got away with murder,' he said.
'He spent all of this time wining and dining our senators. The senators were in his pocket.'
He also claimed he always knew that Afghan forces would melt away in the face of a Taliban assault.
'They were doing it for a paycheck, because once we stopped, once we left, they stopped fighting... So we were sort of bribing them to fight, and that's not what it's all about,' he said.
For all his anger, regional analysts insist both administrations erred: Trump in trusting the Taliban to abide by the peace deal and Biden in failing to predict such a rapid collapse of Afghan forces.
Lisa Curtis, an Afghanistan expert who served on Trump's National Security Council, said Biden should have reevaluated Trump's deal.
'I wouldn't call it a peace deal - I would call it more of a withdrawal deal, because I think the only thing the US really got out of it was an agreement by the Taliban not to shoot U.S. forces on their way out,' she said.
'We didn't get peace, and we didn't get a break with Al Qaeda.'
Despite criticism of his Afghan initiative, Trump has kept up a withering barrage as his successor faced his biggest foreign policy test so far.
Trump told Hannity he was not opposed to the withdrawal of U.S. troops. 'It's the way they withdrew. It was not even possible to believe,' he said
Mullah Baradar headed the Taliban's political office in Doha after being freed by Pakistan in 2018. He returned to country on Tuesday, arriving to a hero's welcome in Kandahar
Biden was forced to return to the White House on Monday after criticism that he stayed at Camp David at the weekend as the Afghan crisis unfolded
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump condemned chaotic scenes at Kabul's international airport as Afghans crowded the runway in search of a flight out.
'What took place yesterday in Afghanistan made our withdrawal from Vietnam look like child’s play,' he said in an emailed statement referencing the fall of Saigon, when American diplomats had to be rescued from the roof of their embassy by helicopter.
'Perhaps in world history, there has never been a withdrawal operation that has been handled so disastrously.
'A president who has been illegitimately elected has brought great shame, in many ways, to our Country!'
A day earlier he promised that his administration would have done things differently and mocked Biden's absence from Washington at the weekend.
He accused Biden of surrendering first to COVID-19 and then to the Taliban.
'The outcome in Afghanistan, including the withdrawal, would have been totally different if the Trump administration had been in charge,' he said.
'Who or what will Joe Biden surrender to next? Someone should ask him, if they can find him.'
In a sign of how dire the situation has become, White House spokesman Jen Psaki was forced to admit Tuesday that there is no guarantee that all US citizens and visa holders will be able to leave the country before troops pull out on August 31.
'Our focus right now is on the task at hand, and that is day by day getting as many American citizens, SIV applicants, as many of the vulnerable population who are eligible to be evacuated to the airport and out on planes,' she told a press conference.
Biden was widely criticized for spending the weekend at Camp David rather than returning immediately to the White House as the Taliban closed in on the Afghan capital Kabul
Pictured: Taliban fighters on a pick-up truck move around a market area, flocked with local Afghan people at the Kote Sangi area of Kabul on August 17, 2021, after Taliban seized control of the capital following the collapse of the Afghan government
Pictured: Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesman for the Taliban, speaks during a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. For years, Mujahid had been a shadowy figure issuing statements on behalf of the militants
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid answers questions as he holds a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan. The
Chaos and fear spread at Kabul's airport on August 16th as hundreds of people try to flee the Taliban
Biden has said his hands were tied by Trump's February 2020 deal with the Taliban, a deal which left out the Afghan government and promised US troops would withdraw if the Taliban agreed not to attack US forces or harbor terrorists such as Al Qaeda.
The Taliban deal was meant to set the stage for a second peace deal, between the Taliban and the Kabul government.
But experts said the Trump deal had alienated the Kabul government, particularly over an agreement to free 5000 Taliban prisoners. Afghan officials said they were blindsided by the promise and feared the prisoners would return to the battlefield.
Kabul was unhappy with some aspects of the deal, including freeing 5000 Taliban prisoners amid fears they would simply return to the battlefield.
Biden extended Trump's initial May 1st deadline for a full military withdrawal.
But Trump said the problem was not leaving, it was the manner in which it was done.
'Can anyone even imagine taking out our military before evacuating civilians and others who have been good to our country and who should be allowed to seek refuge?
'In addition, these people left topflight and highly sophisticated equipment,' he said. 'Who can believe such incompetence?'
No comments