Kamala blames Trump for botched Afghanistan withdrawal her administration conducted

In a statement on Saturday, the Kamala Harris campaign blamed 2024 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump for the disastrous 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, which occurred under the first year of the Biden-Harris administration.

Harris-Walz Campaign National Security Spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein wrote, "Trump shamelessly attacks the Vice President because he hopes he can trick the country into forgetting that his own actions undermined US strategy and put our troops and allies in harm’s way. Trump wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David just days before September 11th—think about that."

"He cut a bad deal with the very same people who violently took over Afghanistan, leading to the collapse of the Afghan government. Trump’s chaotic actions led to catastrophic consequences in Afghanistan. His own former national security advisor agrees: Trump cannot be trusted to safeguard our national security or serve as the commander-in-chief of our armed forces."

Trump campaign advisor Jason Miller noted that Harris has bragged about being "the last person in the room" with Biden when the withdrawal order was issued.

In April 2021, Biden announced that would begin pulling troops from Afghanistan on May 1. As the US was attempting to leave, the Taliban took over Kabul. On August 26 that year, 13 US service members were killed in a bombing that took place at Abbey Gate in Kabul. On August 30, 2021, US officials announced that the last military aircraft had left Kabul, but a number of Americans in the "very low hundreds" had remained in the country. 

It was revealed in August 2021 that the Biden administration had paused a Trump-era contingency plan that provided plans for quick evacuations of Americans out of crisis zones just months before the Taliban takeover of Kabul. The "Contingency and Crisis Response Bureau," was designed to "handle medical, diplomatic, and logistical support concerning Americans overseas." The State Department, paused the bureau earlier in 2021, with notification being officially signed just months prior to the disastrous withdrawal.

According to Breitbart, Trump had reached a deal with the Taliban after negotiations, but it was not completed by the time he left office in January 2020. Biden decided to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan against the advice of military advisors.