Trump's former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, told CNN that Trump's deal with the Taliban in 2020 delegitimized the Afghan government, which led to Afghanistan's quick collapse earlier this month.
Bolton told Anderson Cooper, "The basic mistake that's playing out here is that Trump negotiated this deal only with the Taliban. There are a lot of mistakes in the deal itself, but the fundamental problem of dealing with this terrorist organization is that the Trump negotiators delegitimized the Afghan government — the government we set up."
Bolton said that even with its flaws, the Afghan government had "some legitimacy, which the Taliban had none."
He continued, "And by delegitimizing the government, de-recognizing it, in effect, we shattered the morale of the Afghan army. The army is saying, 'Well, if the Americans won't even protect that government, why are we going to end up protecting it?' Which is why, honestly, nobody should have been surprised that the army collapsed so quickly when Biden announced the final withdrawal."
Trump set up this fail, and instead of taking ownership of it, he passed the buck, like he always does. This deflection by Traitor Trump was given a huge assist by the Beltway press, who reacted like babies not getting their morning bottle at the notion of a messy withdrawal.
In fact, the Beltway press acted in exactly the same fashion as when they helped George Bush and Dick Cheney lie their way into us US invading Iraq after 9/11. Pro-war.
