WASHINGTON | Former Republican President Donald Trump, speaking on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of September 11, denounced on Saturday the “horrible” withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and the “incompetence” of Joe Biden in his management of the end of America’s longest war.
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“It’s a very sad day for many reasons,” he said while visiting a Manhattan police station.
“It’s horrible what happened” in Afghanistan, he said to the police who had greeted him warmly.
“It looks like we retreated, that we gave up, they used the word ‘capitulate’,” he added. “We did not capitulate, our personnel did not capitulate and our soldiers certainly did not.”
“We fled Afghanistan, what horrible timing (before) the 20th anniversary” of the attacks, he said, before visiting a nearby fire station where he also received an enthusiastic welcome.
The American intervention in Afghanistan, launched after the attacks of Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001 which left nearly 3,000 dead, ended in chaos after the lightning victory of the Taliban who took back power in Kabul mi -August.
The Trump administration reached an agreement with Islamist fighters in February 2020, which provided for an American withdrawal in May 2021 in exchange for security assurances.
His successor, Joe Biden, postponed the end of the withdrawal until August 31, but he was taken aback by the onslaught of the Taliban.
A gigantic airlift was urgently set up to evacuate thousands of American citizens and Afghan civilians who collaborated with the United States, marked by scenes of chaos at Kabul airport and an attack by the State group Islamist who killed 13 US servicemen and more than 100 Afghan civilians.
In the morning, the former president had already severely criticized the action of his Democratic successor in the White House in a video message.
“It is also a sad moment for the way in which our war against those who have done so much harm to our country ended last week”, he declared after paying tribute to the “courage” of firefighters, police officers. or rescuers intervened during the attacks.
“The leader of our country has passed for an idiot,” said Mr. Trump.
“We will find it difficult to recover from the embarrassment that this incompetence has caused,” the billionaire continued in his video.
He also denounced the seizure by the Taliban of American military equipment “without a single shot being fired”.
Donald Trump, who did not attend the official tribute ceremony in New York, will comment on Saturday night on a boxing match between former world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and Brazilian mixed martial arts star Vitor Belfort.
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