Donald Trump-led 2020 Doha Agreement strengthened Taliban, weakened US allies: Ex-NSA

On Tuesday, October 5, former US National Security Adviser (NSA), HR McMaster held the Trump administration's February 2020 Afghan peace pact with the Taliban as the reason behind the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan.

The retired Army general testified before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee that the US-Taliban peace deal was a capitulation agreement based on concessions made by the United States, reported The Washington Times. McMaster, who served as Trump's security aide for a short span of time, claimed that the Trump administration's compromises bolstered US foes and weakened Washington's Afghan partners.

"We must stop pretending that our February 2020 surrender to the Taliban and subsequent concessions to that terrorist group, which bolstered our foes while weakening our Afghan partners,  were not the main causes of a lost war and its repercussions in the war-torn country," McMaster was quoted as saying by The Washington Times.

McMaster's statement comes as President Joe Biden continues to be chastised over the hasty US pullout from Afghanistan. According to McMaster's testimony, the Doha agreement "doubled down" on the Obama administration's embrace of peace talks, which began in 2010 and was rejected by then President Donald Trump in 2017. However, it was resurrected in the final year of his presidency. 

According to McMaster, flaws in the agreement include a mandate for the Afghan government to surrender terrorists, the cessation of active Taliban pursuit, the withdrawal of all US aircraft, and the termination of contractor support for Afghan security forces. Earlier, President Biden had argued that the Trump administration's deal with the Taliban tied his hands to a full, time-based pullout from Afghanistan. However, some have questioned Biden's decision to go ahead with the previous administration’s policy while undoing several others. 

McMaster publicly parted with Trump on several issues

It should be mentioned here that McMaster has publicly feuded over a number of issues against his former boss, Donald Trump. In 2018, he resigned in the wake of alleged disagreements with then-President Trump and other senior administration officials. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, October 5, former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence termed the Biden administration’s messy pullout from Afghanistan as the "greatest foreign policy disaster" since the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. He also accused President Joe Biden and his administration of bolstering America's enemies abroad while oppressing Americans at home, news agency Sputnik reported citing Fox News.

(Image: @H.R. McMaster/Twitter/AP)