Afghanistan Peace Campaign
On Monday evening, August 12th, former US President Donald Trump criticized the policies of current President Joe Biden regarding the Taliban during a public discussion on X. He described the transfer of Afghan funds to the Taliban as “the greatest folly in U.S. history.”
Meanwhile, Trump labeled the Taliban as the “largest illegal arms dealer” in the world.
Trump’s remarks appear to reference Afghanistan’s foreign assets in the U.S., which are currently held in a Swiss bank under the supervision of the Afghan trust fund, with the Taliban not having access to them.
Trump has previously claimed that the Biden administration left behind approximately $85 billion worth of U.S. military equipment in Afghanistan, which he asserts fell into the hands of the Taliban.
In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, where he formally accepted the party’s nomination for the upcoming presidential election, Trump stated that the Taliban had become the world’s largest seller of American weapons through their sales of these arms.
While Trump did not specify which countries or groups the Taliban might be selling American weapons to, there have been prior reports of such equipment being spotted in Pakistan, Kashmir, and even Palestine.
U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan following the signing of the Doha Agreement on February 2020, which was signed by Trump’s administration and implemented during Biden’s presidency.
Trump’s statements bring renewed attention to the controversial aspects of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the ongoing impact of the Taliban’s access to American military equipment.
As the debate over the handling of Afghanistan assets and military resources continues, these issues remain a significant point of contention in U.S. political discourse.