Subject: Re: OT: Ukraine and Russia
"The Trump team has made much political hay of the Biden Team's botching of Afghanistan"

Trump invited the Taliban leadership to Camp David in 2019. He was only forced to withdraw because they killed a US service member in a terrorist attack in Kabul.

Trump's team subsequently signed the "Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan" or Doha Accords, with the Taliban but without the Afganistan goverment. The Trump administration surrendered to the Taliban, sold out our allies in the ANDSF, and performed most of the retreat. The final withdrawal under the Biden was about 15% of the US presence when the agreement was signed.

You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.... I quote

The agreement stipulated fighting restrictions for both the U.S. and the Taliban, and provided for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban's counter-terrorism commitments. The U.S. agreed to an initial reduction of its force level from 13,000 to 8,600 within 135 days (i.e. by July 2020), followed by a full withdrawal within 14 months (i.e. by 1 May 2021) if the Taliban kept its commitments. The United States also committed to closing five military bases within 135 days, and expressed its intent to end economic sanctions on the Taliban by August 27, 2020. The agreement was welcomed by Pakistan, China, Russia and India,[4][7][8] and unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council.[9]

Insurgent attacks against the Afghan security forces surged in the aftermath of the deal, however, with thousands killed. Regardless, withdrawals per the agreement continued. By January 2021, just 2,500 U.S. troops remained in the country, and NATO forces fully evacuated by the end of that summer. The U.S. completed its full evacuation on August 30, 2021, as the Taliban took control of the country by force.

It was a deal driven by a narcissistic idiot, brokered by a scam artist, and to my perpetual surprise honored by a decent human being. The "botching of Afghanistan" was 100% by the design and intention of the first Trump administration. If you are not well informed about this phase of the war in Ukraine, then you slept through the first Trump adminstration or have selective amnesia. They are running from the same play book, to the letter.

The full text of the agreement the Trump administration made with the Taliban can be read here https://www.state.gov/wp-conte... if anyone want to know what lies ahead.