In a special interview with TOLOnews, John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN and national security adviser, said that President Donald Trump’s decision to sign the Doha agreement between the US and the Taliban was a big mistake.
“I think history has proven in fact that it was a terrible agreement. The objective the Taliban wanted was America, NATO, out of Afghanistan, everything else was secondary,” he said.
Bolton said that Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US envoy for peace in Afghanistan, did not contribute positively to the situation, but he said that Khalilzad was “taking orders.”
“Let’s be clear, he was taking orders from President Trump and Secretary Pompeo, so whatever criticisms one makes about Zal’s performance should be understood as criticizing both what Trump and Pompeo were instructing,” he said.
Bolton stated that the Islamic Emirate has failed to uphold its commitments and a large number of foreign fighters have returned to Afghanistan.
“I very much fear our knowledge of efforts which have been made to launch terrorist attacks from Afghanistan is deeply incomplete and that the risk is high and if we were still there we would have a much better chance to detect these plans for terrorist attacks before they took place. Now we are not entirely blind, but we are certainly not in the position we were,” Bolton said.
The Islamic Emirate has consistently accused the US of violating the Doha agreement, most recently with the US drone strike in Kabul.—Tolonews
