Blinken lays blame on Trump as he defends messy withdrawal from Afghanistan - POLITICO

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday vigorously defended the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw all U.S.

In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken said the U.S.

Blinken said the Biden administration was handcuffed by Trump’s agreement with the Taliban, which in part reduced the U.S.

With the Taliban continuing its “relentless” military campaign regardless of that agreement, Blinken said, Biden “immediately faced the choice between ending the war or escalating it.”.

“Had [Biden] not followed through on his predecessor’s commitment, attacks on our forces and those of our allies would have resumed and the Taliban’s nationwide assault on Afghanistan’s major cities would have commenced,” Blinken said.

“We are seeing domestic politics injected into foreign policy,” Foreign Affairs Chair Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said of Republicans’ criticisms of the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal.

He accused Blinken of “betraying” those Afghan allies.

citizens being left behind in Afghanistan, Blinken said U.S

Still, Biden acknowledged last month that “this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,” but argued that the rapid collapse of the Afghan government showed that it was the “right decision” to leave Afghanistan

“There’s no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining,” Blinken said