Afghanistan Times
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KABUL – Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has unleashed a scathing critique of the Biden administration’s handling of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, accusing them of engaging in a cover-up through a recent report from the State Department.
In an early morning tweet on Tuesday, Pompeo labeled the State Department’s recent report on the evacuation process in Afghanistan as a deliberate attempt to hide their errors.
“While they try to shift blame onto others, they conveniently neglect to explain why they disregarded our conditions-based approach,” he added.
Pompeo also highlighted the Biden administration’s failure to justify their decision to leave Bagram Air Base before evacuating civilians and their choice of September 11, 2021, as the final withdrawal date from Afghanistan.
“A complete failure of leadership. The Biden Admin’s Afghanistan report is a cover-up. Why they left Bagram Air Base before evacuating civilians. Or why they arbitrarily selected 9/11 as a final deadline,” he tweeted.
The former Secretary of State stated that the mishandling of the Afghan crisis had emboldened Putin’s aggression towards Ukraine.
“This infuriating weakness will have long-lasting repercussions, and we will bear the cost of these mistakes for years,” he asserted.
Recently, the US State Department released a portion of its classified report on the evacuation process in Afghanistan, which strongly criticized the decisions made by former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden regarding the withdrawal of US troops.
The report emphasized that both presidents’ choices had significant implications for the stability and security of the former Afghan government.
Prior to the report’s publication, the White House had already placed blame on the Trump administration for the consequences of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
US troops departed Afghanistan following the signing of the Doha Agreement between Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
This agreement was formalized in a ceremony attended by Mike Pompeo during his tenure as the US Secretary of State.
