REUTERS/Leah Millis
- Trump's ex-national security advisor John Bolton slammed Mike Pompeo over his negotiations with the Taliban.
- Bolton said it's "impossible" to "rewrite history" about the Trump administration's role in the Afghanistan pullout.
- Pompeo and Trump have come under attack over their deal with the Taliban in February 2020.
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Donald Trump's ex-national security advisor John Bolton criticized former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for distancing himself from the Afghanistan withdrawal when he negotiated the deal with the Taliban.
"Trying to extricate yourself from this withdrawal is I think difficult if not impossible to do, especially to rewrite history about what actually happened," Bolton told Politico in a report published Thursday. "I think that's a prescription for Democratic attack ads that would be fatal to someone's credibility."
Pompeo and Trump have come under attack over their February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, which stipulated that US troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan within 14 months on the condition that the militant group not turn the country into a terrorist base. At the signing ceremony in Qatar, Pompeo posed for photographs alongside Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is anticipated to head the next Taliban government in Afghanistan.
At the time, critics blasted the Trump administration for excluding the Afghan government, claiming it undercut its legitimacy. That criticism has been renewed amid the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and the collapse of the US-backed Afghan government on August 15.
Bolton, who served as Trump's national security advisor from 2018 to 2019, has said both the Trump administration and President Joe Biden are responsible for the chaotic and ongoing removal of US troops from the country.
Other Republicans who have criticized Trump and Biden over the pullout include Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Trump's national security advisor from 2017 to 2018, H.R. McMaster, denounced Trump's Taliban deal as a "surrender agreement."
Pompeo and Trump have attempted to absolve themselves of the current situation in Afghanistan and have blamed Biden for the fallout.
"I hope this Administration comes to understand that apologizing, placating, appeasing, being weak, only presents risks to American security," Pompeo tweeted on Thursday.