Former ambassador to Afghanistan accuses rise of Taliban of “delegitimizing” Afghan government

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Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 on Thursday, where he blamed former President Trump for the recent wave of Taliban in the country. Trump had planned to meet with the Taliban leadership and the Afghan president at Camp David in 2019. After the meeting was canceled, a US representative for Afghanistan met with the Taliban leadership in Qatar in February 2020, where the two sides signed a peace agreement. It was during this meeting that Crocker believes that the current situation in Afghanistan arose. Not only was no representative of the Afghan government present at the meeting, but Afghanistan was asked to make certain concessions to the Taliban.

In my opinion, we bear a major responsibility for this. Began under President Trump when he authorized negotiations between the United States and the Taliban without the Afghan government in the room. It was a key Taliban demand. We bought into it and it has been a huge demoralizing factor for the Afghan government and its security forces, Crocker said. We urged them to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Eventually they did and watched them resume the fight against the people who released them. So it’s a year and a half of demoralization.

Crocker, who was appointed to his post by President George W. Bush, believes the withdrawal of US troops from the country, which was part of the 2020 deal, means the end for Afghan forces.

Now that abrupt pullback on our part, I think, solidifies it, Crocker said. It is therefore like any complex phenomenon. There are several reasons for the collapse, I think, of the Afghan forces, but we cannot ignore that we played a central role in their delegitimization as well as their government.

As the Taliban continue to take over major cities with seemingly little to no resistance, Crocker reiterated that the failure can be attributed to the so-called peace deal.

We were, of course, a great supporter of the state and its security forces. Symbolism matters, and the symbol of the US military affecting a full and final withdrawal was devastating, Crocker said. And again, this did not happen overnight. This process of demoralization, if you will, began the first day we sat down with the Taliban and excluded the Afghan government.

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Anderson Cooper 360 airs weekday evenings at 8 p.m. on CNN.

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