Under the guise of a “peace agreement,” Trump surrendered to the Taliban. The Doha Accord, as the deal was called, was signed on 29 February 2020. The Doha Accord stipulated that both NATO forces and the Taliban had restrictions in fighting and that all NATO Forces would be withdrawn by 1 May 2021. As a further act of cowardice, the negotiations were done without the participations of our closest ally in that war, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). During the twenty years of conflict, the US lost 2459 servicemembers killed (1922 were KIA) plus 18 CIA agents killed. And there were another 20769 U.S. military wounded in action (WIA). There are no accurate casualty numbers for the Afghans, but the ANDSF and police suffered over 66,000 KIA, and many, many more wounded.
Despite their participation and suffering, Trump did not even allow the Afghan Government a seat at the negotiating table. That should be a huge red flag to any future agreements between the United States and the governments of any foreign countries. The message Trump sent to the world is that America’s word is unreliable and not to be trusted. Remember, Trump has frequently noted that he likes to be “unpredictable.” Internationally, being “unpredictable” translates to “unreliable.” That is true domestically as well.
What Trump agreed to was: “The United States is committed to withdraw from Afghanistan all military forces of the United States, its allies, and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel.” Following a schedule, the withdrawal was to be completed in 14 months. For those who have been vociferously complaining about the materiel left behind, they should remember it took two decades to bring all of that stuff into Afghanistan. Logistically speaking, taking that much stuff out in the time agreed upon by Trump, would have been impossible. Contrary to his recent proclamations, there was no established plan to retrograde the vast amount of materiel that was brought into Afghanistan.
Of critical importance is the last item stated in that paragraph, “supporting services personnel.” Innocuous as that may sound, it played a pivotal role in the rapid collapse of the ANDSF across the country. During the conflict, the U.S. had provided them with a substantial number of aircraft. That was in addition to American air support while U.S. forces were still engaged in fighting the Taliban which ended with Trump’s Doha agreement. Therefore, the aircraft then owned and operated by them were very important in providing both fire support and medical evacuation. That air support was the critical advantage for the Afghan troops. Until the Doha Accord, much of the supporting aircraft maintenance was performed by American contractors. Those contractors were very quickly pulled, creating a serious blow to the morale of the ANDSF who realized they were being abandoned.
Lest you think “surrender” is too strong a word, consider the facts. Trump ceded to a terrorist organization with no recognized legal status; the Taliban:
- No U.S. further military combat operations
- “If you don’t shoot at us, we won’t shoot at you.”
- The U.S. will not support our allies in combat
- The U.S. will close all NATO military bases in Afghanistan
- The U.S. will withdraw all forces by a specified date (1 May 2021)
- Our primary allies (the Afghan Government) will release thousands of prisoners
That sure sounds like surrender to me.
To be clear, the withdrawal was not well- executed (an understatement). In fact, while the U.S. was bound by Trump’s agreement, Biden did delay the final departure beyond the 1 May deadline. He also rejected the controversial advice to keep the Bagram Air Base open under American control. The rationale was to keep a small force there to conduct counterinsurgency operations. One of Biden’s main concerns was that an attack producing American casualties might require reinforcements and draw the U.S. back into the conflict.
On a personal note, that is close to my position, albeit two decades earlier. In late 2003, I was a contractor with a titular title of “mentor to the Minister of Defence.” At the time that minister was Marshal Fahim Khan, but I also worked with General Bismillah the Army chief of staff, General Wardak as first deputy Minister of Defence, Lt.Gen. Karimi (a really great guy) who was deputy chief of staff for operations and several other senior members of the MOD. Within a couple of weeks, it seemed clear to me that nation building was never going to work in the long run. My mentally conjured solution was to build up Bagram as a staging point for counterterror operations; then pay off the Afghan government and let them do whatever they wanted, with the proviso that we were not going to let any terrorist organization develop that could threaten America.
Trump often bragged about the fact that there were no American fatalities for the last year of his administration. Since Trump in effect had surrendered, there was no reason for the Taliban to provoke the U.S. and risk losing their victory. Trump also blamed Biden for 13 military members who were killed by a suicide bomber at Abby Gate, an entrance to Kabul Airport. What I find bothersome about those tragic deaths is that the other 2446 KIAs seem to be nearly forgotten because of one high-visibility event. Also ignored by most Americans is that about 170 Afghans died in the blast and many more were wounded. The bomber was a member of ISIS-K and an enemy of the Taliban.
There is a reason that Afghanistan is known as “the graveyard of empires.” From Alexander the Great, to Great Briton, and then the Soviet Union empires have failed in Southern Asia as did we. It has always been harder to get out than to get in. Zal Khalilzad, negotiating on Trump’s direction, did get America out of its longest war, but at a tremendous price both to us and other countries as well.
Lest you forget, Afghanistan was not Trump’s only acquiescence. Ceding to Putin again, he ordered U.S. troops out of Northern Syria. This too was done against the advice of senior military officials. Trump’s stated rationale was that we had “defeated ISIS.” That still is not true as ISIS simply morphed. As he would later do in Afghanistan, Trump betrayed our allies. There it was the Kurds who had been supporting American efforts since Desert Storm. Trump repeatedly has proven that America is not reliable.
It was Trump, not Biden who started on this path. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is another example of his incompetence. There is no doubt that Trump is deferential to Putin. The Helsinki meeting where he backed Putin over the American Intelligence Community was proof of that. After the Russian invasion Trump told Putin, to “do whatever the hell you want.” That was meant for all NATO countries. We all know how valiantly Cadet Bone Spurs dodged his personal responsibility in Vietnam. While personally avoiding armed conflict, without evidence Trump suggested is Liz Cheney is “a radical Warhawk.” However, it is Trump who has repeatedly reneged on agreements with our allies. His message to the world is America is not to be trusted. There will be a terrible price to pay for even entertaining Trump as a viable candidate for POTUS.
