Former President Donald Trump had debate viewers scratching their heads with a bizarre statement about negotiating with a top Taliban official he identified as ‘Abdul’ and a threat to take out his home.
Trump didn’t give his full name, but called him the ‘head’ of the Taliban, which only caused more questions because the Taliban leader does not have that name.
It began after ABC’s David Muir quizzed Vice President Kamala Harris on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. That prompted her to argue that the U.S. pullout came under the terms of an agreement negotiated by the Trump Administration.
‘He bypassed the Afghan government. He negotiated directly with a terrorist organization called the Taliban,’ said Harris, in reference to the talks Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held in Doha.
He was most likely referring to Taliban policy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, who negotiated with Pompeo. But he is not actually the head of the organization, although he is in the top tier. He serves currently as first deputy prime minister.
‘I got involved. And Abdul is the head of the Taliban. He is still the head of the Taliban,’ Trump said during the debate, which drew nearly 60 million viewers.
Former President Donald Trump had viewers scratching their heads with a story about showing ‘Abdul’ who he called the leader of the Taliban a picture of his house
Then Trump referenced delivering a threat, that he suggests ensured the peace. ‘And I told Abdul, “Don’t do it anymore. You do it anymore, you’re going to have problems.” And he said, “Why do you send me a picture of my house?” I said, “You’re going to have to figure that out, Abdul.” And for 18 months we had nobody killed.’
Trump has told the story in the past, including to Sean Hannity on Fox News in 2022, when he said he told the Afghan, ‘Don’t do it.’
‘It was strong. And he understood it,’ Trump added.
The Taliban is headed by Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has held the post since 2016.
Trump then said he would have gotten out of Afghanistan ‘faster’ than President Joe Biden’s administration, although there were still 2,500 U.S. troops in place when Biden took over.
Trump may have been referring to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed Deputy Prime Minister
Trump’s comment came after VP Kamala Harris rapped him for negotiating with the Taliban
‘It was a very good agreement. The reason it was good, it was – we were getting out. We would have been out faster than them, but we wouldn’t have lost the soldiers. We wouldn’t have left many Americans behind.’
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The Biden administration, even while acknowledging things didn’t go as planned, have blamed the agreement for locking in a withdrawal date and leaving the U.S. without enough troops to prop up the Afghan government when the Taliban made sudden territorial gains.
Harris noted that the deal with the Taliban also ‘involved the Taliban getting 5,000 terrorists, Taliban terrorists released,’ a factor the White House this week cited as contributing to the collapse of the Afghan government.
Harris smiled and turned her head away from Trump as he told the ‘Abdul’ story.
Online observers including a former Wall Street Journal reported pointed out the Tablian relied on IEDs rather than snipers, and the lack of an 18 month stretch during Trump’s tenure when no U.S. forces got killed.