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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Donald Trump, who was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a Manhattan court this week, accused President Joe Biden and the White House of being "morons" for their hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in August 2021.
On Thursday, the U.S. government acknowledged that it should have started the evacuation of Afghanistan much sooner than it did—though it blamed much of it on Biden's predecessor, Trump.
In the spring of 2021, the Biden administration called for a swift end to the "forever war" in Afghanistan, which was soon followed by the collapse of the Afghan government and its military and the return of the Taliban in power.
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The withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country was accompanied by an explosion of violence which hit American soldiers as well as Afghan civilians, with an Islamic State suicide bomber carrying out an attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and about 170 civilians.
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On Thursday, White House spokesman John F. Kirby said that "clearly we didn't get things right here with Afghanistan with how fast the Taliban was moving across the country."
As a result of the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the government has now changed its policies to carry out evacuations much sooner when safety conditions in the field worsen.
But faced with questions from reporters for more than an hour about the government's review, Kirby also defended the White House's efforts to try to evacuate troops and civilians, and said that "for all this talk of chaos, I just didn't see it." He also put much of the blame for the late and hasty withdrawal on Trump.
"It was a general sense of degradation and neglect there that the president inherited," Kirby said. "And do not underestimate the effect that Doha agreement had on the morale and the willingness to fight on the Afghan National Security defense forces."
Trump had previously agreed with the Taliban that he would pull forces from Afghanistan by the spring of 2021. According to Kirby, when Biden took office American troops in Afghanistan, estimated at about 2,500, were outnumbered by Taliban forces.
But Trump has embraced the White House's admission that the withdrawal was done too quickly, calling the Biden administration's attempt to blame him for it "a new disinformation game."
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday, he said: "These Morons in the White House, who are systematically destroying our Country, headed up by the biggest Moron of them all, Hopeless Joe Biden, have a new disinformation game they are playing—Blame 'TRUMP' for their grossly incompetent SURRENDER in Afghanistan."
"I watched this disaster unfold just like everyone else. I saw them take out the Military FIRST, GIVE $85 Billion of military equipment, allow killing of our soldiers, and leave Americans behind. Biden is responsible, no one else!"
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment.
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