The administration of US President Donald Trump never planned to completely withdraw the American contingent from Afghanistan. On August 18, the Defense One edition writes about this, citing the words of the former acting US Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller.
He said in an interview with reporters that Trump's deal with the Taliban movement (the organization is recognized as a terrorist and banned in the Russian Federation) on the withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan by May 1 was actually a "trick" and a negotiating tactic.
In reality, the Trump administration allegedly intended to convince Ashraf Ghani to abandon the post of president of Afghanistan or agree to share power with the Taliban, and the Taliban would have the advantage.
"The whole advanced political strategy was that Ghani would have to deal with the Taliban. And it will not be a 50/50 division between the Afghan government and the Taliban. We knew that. It should have been 75/25 [the Taliban's majority], and then it would have become an interim government, " Miller said.
At the same time, it was assumed that about 800 US military personnel under the new government would be able to stay in Afghanistan to further fight terrorism.
"There would be a new government there. The Taliban would no longer exist as an independent organization. This transaction would be invalid. The whole idea was that the Taliban would agree [to extend the presence of US forces] <...> We would call it "security assistance" so that they could save face, " the former Pentagon chief explained.
According to the publication Defense One, at least one official from the Trump administration did not agree with Miller's statements. According to him, the White House really tried to get Ghani to leave the post of president of Afghanistan, but the Taliban "would never allow any US military to stay" in the Islamic republic.
Earlier in the day, US President Joe Biden said that the agreement of his predecessor Donald Trump with representatives of the Taliban movement helped to avoid attacks on the US military in Afghanistan.
At the same time, on the eve of Trump said that he considers the operation to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan the biggest humiliation for the States. He called the very fact of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan remarkable, but stressed that no one has ever carried out the withdrawal process worse than Biden.
The situation in Afghanistan began to worsen after the United States began withdrawing its troops in early May 2021, planning to complete the operation by the end of August.
On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul, after which they declared the "end of the war" in Afghanistan. They intend to announce the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and also demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. In turn, President Ashraf Ghani resigned and left the country.
The next day, in response to criticism of the decision to withdraw the US military from Afghanistan, Biden said that he did not regret it. He stressed that there was no better moment for the withdrawal of the military contingent from Afghanistan, and a refusal would mean an escalation of the conflict.
