Harris campaign criticizes Trump over 2020 Taliban deal in response to his criticism of Afghanistan withdrawal

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is rehashing former President Donald Trump's 2020 deal with the Taliban after the Republican nominee repeatedly criticized them for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan during President Biden's first year in office.

August 26 marked the third anniversary of the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. The attack killed 13 U.S. soldiers, injured 18 others, and killed approximately 170 Afghans.

During a speech in Detroit celebrates the dayTrump blamed both Harris and Mr Biden for the “humiliation in Afghanistan.”

In a response first seen by CBS News, Harris' campaign team uses Trump's announcement and abrupt cancellation of a meeting with Taliban leaders at Camp David five years ago to highlight the role of his agreement with the Taliban in the withdrawal.

The campaign argues that Trump's agreement set a “virtually impossible” deadline and “left the Biden-Harris administration with no plans for an orderly withdrawal – only dangerous, costly chaos.”

“Trump is shamelessly attacking the vice president because he hopes to make the country forget that he put troops in danger through his own actions,” Morgan Finkelstein, national security spokeswoman for Harris' campaign, told CBS News. “Trump wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David just days before 9/11 — think about it. He made a bad deal with the very same people who violently took over Afghanistan and led to the collapse of the Afghan government.”

On September 7, 2019, Trump tweeted that a meeting with the Taliban was canceled after a US soldier was killed in an attack by the terrorist group. Months later, in February 2020Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban to allow a significant troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of the year. In return, he received guarantees from the Taliban that the country would not be used for terrorist activities.

However, Taliban attacks on Afghan forces continued. Trump's former national security adviser HR McMaster called the deal a “surrender agreement with the Taliban” in a podcast interview.

CBS News has reached out to the Trump campaign for a response to the Harris campaign's criticism.

The attack on Kabul airport came during Mr Biden's efforts to evacuate American soldiers and Afghans from Afghanistan, part of a long-standing goal he and Trump share of officially ending the long-running war. Republicans in the House of Representatives are currently being investigated the withdrawal of the Biden administration.

Although Biden sharply criticized Trump's Taliban deal, he stuck to it and extended the withdrawal deadline by several months to withdraw troops by September 11, 2021, thus avoiding further military escalation in the country.

“It may not be what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement by the U.S. government, and that means something,” Biden said in April 2021.

A large number of respondents in a CBS News Poll August 2021 He believed that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan had gone “very poorly,” and from that moment on, Biden's approval ratings began to decline steadily.

In recent weeks, Trump tended to criticize more by Mr Biden and Harris about the attack and the withdrawal.

At the end of August, Trump was invited by family members of some soldiers to a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. The visit was overshadowed by a dispute between a cemetery worker and Trump's campaign team over the presence of a campaign photographer. The families had allowed him access to the cemetery, but federal cemetery law prohibits this.

During a speech at the National Guard Association conference in Detroit later that day, Trump called for the resignation of Biden administration officials involved in the withdrawal.

“It is unbelievable how stupid these people were to allow something like this to happen to our country. And we became a laughing stock around the world and buried 13 soldiers,” he added.

In a statement that day, Harris reiterated her support for Biden's decision to end the war, writing that the 13 deceased soldiers “represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and putting themselves in harm's way to ensure the safety of their fellow citizens.”

Before becoming vice president, Harris had supported a withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and an end to the war. In April 2021, she said she was the last person Mr Biden consulted with before the president decided to withdraw all remaining US troops from Afghanistan.

As the chaotic withdrawal unfolded in August 2021, Harris emphasized the focus on evacuating American citizens and Afghans working with the United States.

“There is no doubt that there will and should be a thorough analysis of what happened,” she said. during a trip to Singapore in 2021.

contributed to this report.