In the leadup to Tuesday night's presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, a separate debate is occurring in Washington over who was at fault for the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
The back-and-forth, which one expert referred to as "electoral posturing," shows that Afghanistan could play a key role in this year's race, with Republicans pulling out all stops to implicate Harris in the perceived foreign policy failures of the past three and a half years.
During a Monday afternoon press briefing, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby spoke to reporters about the 2021 withdrawal, and argued that Biden's hands were tied by policies of the previous administration.
"The Trump administration cut a deal called the Doha Agreement that mandated a complete U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan," Kirby said.
Kirby was referring to the agreement, signed between the Trump administration and the Taliban in February 2020, which promised to bring an end to America's 20-year presence in the country, and the air base which swiftly fell into Taliban hands following the U.S. exit.
His comments came in response to a critical report on the withdrawal issued by Republicans from the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Sunday.
https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-biden-afghanistan-withdrawal-2024-election-tv-debate-1951423
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