UK defense secretary says Trump's deal with the Taliban was 'rotten' and that the international community will 'pay the consequences'

Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is seen at Downing Street in London, Britain, January 6, 2020
REUTERS/Toby Melville

The UK defense secretary called Trump's deal with the Taliban "rotten."
He told British media that the deal was a "mistake" and that the international community will pay for it.
The Taliban has launched a massive offensive, seizing territory after territory in Afghanistan.
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The UK defense secretary said this week that the deal between the Trump administration and the Taliban setting plans for the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan was "rotten," telling Sky News that the international community will likely "pay the consequences" in a rare criticism.

"I felt that was a mistake to have done it that way," Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace said. "We will all, as an international community, pay the consequences of that."

"I think the deal that was done in Doha was a rotten deal," the secretary said. "It effectively told a Taliban that wasn't winning that they were winning, and it undermined the government of Afghanistan and now we are in this position where the Taliban have clearly the momentum across the country."

Wallace also expressed concern that al Qaeda will come back, explaining to British media that "failed states around the world lead to instability, lead to a security threat to us and our interests."

In February 2020, the Trump administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar that was intended to encourage peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government while facilitating the withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

The Biden administration upheld the deal, moving forward with plans to withdraw US troops and end the two-decade war in Afghanistan, America's longest conflict.

Biden said in July that he had trust in confidence in the capability of the Afghan forces. "The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," he said at the time.

Taliban fighters patrol inside the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 13, 2021
AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan was about 95% complete when the Taliban launched a nationwide offensive, seizing city after city. Some US intelligence assessments suggest the country could fall in a matter of weeks.

US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday that the Taliban are violating both the "letter and the spirit" of the Doha agreement, explaining that rather than pursuing a "permanent and comprehensive ceasefire," all indications say "the Taliban are instead pursuing a battlefield victory."

The US Department of Defense announced on Thursday that in response to the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, it is sending in 3,000 troops to help evacuate US civilian personnel in Kabul. An additional force of around 4,000 troops will be on standby in Kuwait should the situation require more support.

The British military is also sending in additional troops to support the evacuation of its people from Afghanistan.

Former President Donald Trump asserted in a statement Thursday that he could have handled this situation better, saying "it would have been a much different and much more successful withdrawal, and the Taliban understood that better than anyone."

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