Kamala Harris Blames Trump for the Afghanistan Withdrawal That Happened Under Her and Biden’s Watch

Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign tried to blame her and President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan on former President Donald Trump — even though it happened seven months after he left office.

The Harris-Walz campaign released a statement Friday that claimed, “Trump left the Biden-Harris Administration with zero plans for an orderly withdrawal — only a dangerous, costly mess.”

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, New Hampshire on September 4, 2024. (Kylie Cooper for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Trump had begun negotiations with the Taliban and reached a deal, but it had not been completed by the time he left office in January 2020. Biden — against the advice of his military advisers — decided to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan in September 2021, which prompted the Taliban to sweep into Kabul at the end of August 2021 and topple the U.S.-backed government in a surprise rout. The sudden takeover prompted mass panic and chaos as hundreds of thousands of Americans, foreign civilians, and desperate Afghans scrambled to depart.

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The remaining U.S. troops in Kabul at the time, as well as hundreds more who were flown in, were ordered to carry out the withdrawal — as well undertake a massive civilian evacuation effort — under extremely stressful and dangerous conditions from a makeshift fortress at the Kabul International Airport while surrounded by the Taliban.

A suicide bomber infiltrated the crowd surrounding the airport on the final days of the evacuation, and killed 13 American service members. Before departing, U.S. military commanders ordered a drone strike that accidentally killed a humanitarian aid worker and members of his family, including children.

The Biden administration has never held anyone accountable for the bungled withdrawal that played out on television screens across the world, and President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have said they have no regrets.

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After Trump recently participated in a ceremony to honor the 13 Americans who were killed, as well as those wounded, the Harris-Walz campaign claimed that Trump was trying to politicize the disastrous withdrawal — even though the families had invited Trump to be there and had given him permission to film the event. The family members of the fallen then released angry statements slamming the Harris-Walz campaign for their criticism.

Bill Barnett, left, grandfather of Darin Taylor Hoover, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in honor of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover at Arlington National Cemetery, on August 26, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Despite this, the Harris-Walz 2024 National Security Spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said in a statement, “Trump shamelessly attacks the Vice President because he hopes he can trick the country into forgetting that his own actions undermined U.S. strategy and put our troops and allies in harm’s way.”

An Axios reporter noted that while some Republicans also thought Trump had cut a “bad deal” with the Taliban, the Biden-Harris administration had “debated options on trying to change the deal and went [with] Biden’s plan.”

National security expert Rebeccah Heinrichs posted on X about Harris’s attempt to gaslight the public, “This is crazy. Biden and Harris have defended their decision and process for the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. Campaign staff are not going to get Americans to buy this.”