Senior US general blames Trump's Doha agreement for Afghan debacle
Donald Trump
A senior US general on Wednesday said that the Doha agreement, signed by former US President Donald Trump with the Taliban had an influence on USA's disastrous pullout from Afghanistan. He was speaking in front of House Congress committee in a congressional hearing.
General Kenneth Mckenzie said that once the decision to reduce US troop presence below 2500 was taken, it proved to be the start of unravelling of American pullout.
“The signing of the Doha agreement had a really pernicious effect on the government of Afghanistan and on its military, psychological more than anything else, but we set a date – certain for when we were going to leave and when they could expect all assistance to end,” McKenzie said.
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The Doha agreement was signed between USA and Taliban. As per the agreement, US agreed to fully withdraw its troops by May 2021 in exchange for some assurances from Taliban.
During his hearing before US Congress committee, McKenzie said that he was of the opinion that if the number of American troops in Afghanistan fell below 2500, it would result in collapse of the civillian government in Kabul.
He added that US President Joe Biden's order to reduce troops in April was “the other nail in the coffin”.
Taliban took over power in Afghanistan on August 15 in a lightning offensive that followed drawdown and total withdrawal of US troops from the country.