Former US President Donald Trump in a videotaped statement said Kabul attacks wouldn't have happened if he were the president. ""This tragedy should never have taken place, it should never have happened, and it would not have happened, if I were your President", Trump said.
The 45th president released the 2-minute, 15-second statement to Fox News prior to an appearance on the cable network’s “Hannity” program. In his remarks, Trump memorialized the 13 US service members who died in the “savage and barbaric” attacks, which also killed at least 60 Afghans and were claimed by the ISIS-K terror group.
“These noble American warriors laid down their lives in the line of duty,” he said. “They sacrificed themselves for the country that they love, racing against time to rescue their fellow citizens from harm’s way. They died as American heroes and our nation will honor their memory forever", he added.
In a written statement, Trump noted, "This tragedy should never have been allowed to happen, which makes our grief even deeper and more difficult to understand."
“The Taliban is the enemy,” the former president said. “I dealt with the leader of the Taliban … this is a tough, hardened person that’s been fighting us for many years, and we’re using them now to protect us? Look what happened with their protection, 100 people — much more, they say, than 100 people — were killed and 13 of our incredible military were killed, and that’s just the beginning.”
Trump also described former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani as a "thief" who had influence with US lawmakers."...Ghani was a thief. Ghani had great power in the United States Senate. He had senators and congressmen that were his friend. His whole life was the US Senate. And that gave him power. But he was basically and inherently a thief who had no control over the country other than he was powerful within the United States Senate in particular, which is terrible, by the way," Trump said.
