Mike Pompeo’s Defense of Trump-Taliban Agreement Underwhelming

Up until things recently turned into a five-alarm debacle in Afghanistan, former president Donald Trump’s major criticism was that his successor wasn’t getting out of Afghanistan fast enough. He derided President Biden for extending the withdrawal deadline. Put aside that the total U.S. pullout, under any circumstances, would have eviscerated the counter-terrorism mission that continues to be essential — namely, denying anti-American jihadists sanctuary from and operational partnership with the host regime. As we now see, the May 1 date, on which Trump agreed in a formal February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, would have been even more reckless than Biden’s September 11 deadline (which has effectively become August 31 — i.e., next week).

That is the reality. And it is why one is so underwhelmed by former secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s attempt to defend the Trump–Taliban agreement, laid out in our Jack Crowe’s report, based on an interview with Pompeo.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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Up until things recently turned into a five-alarm debacle in Afghanistan, former president Donald Trump’s major criticism was that his successor wasn’t getting out of Afghanistan fast enough. He derided President Biden for extending the withdrawal deadline. Put aside that the total U.S. pullout, under any circumstances, would have eviscerated the counter-terrorism mission that continues to be essential — namely, denying anti-American jihadists sanctuary from and operational partnership with the host regime. As we now see, the May 1 date, on which Trump agreed in a formal February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, would have been even more reckless than Biden’s September 11 deadline (which has effectively become August 31 — i.e., next week).

That is the reality. And it is why one is so underwhelmed by former secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s attempt to defend the Trump–Taliban agreement, laid out in our Jack Crowe’s report, based on an interview with Pompeo.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.