Elliot Ackerman: ‘Preposterous’ for Biden to Claim His Hands Were Tied by Trump’s Afghanistan Policies

During an interview with PBS’ “Firing Line” released on Friday, Writer for The Atlantic and author Elliot Ackerman pushed back against claims that the Biden administration had no choice but to follow former President Donald Trump’s Afghanistan policies and pointed out that Biden “showed, across his administration, an ability and a willingness to unwind a host of policies that President Trump had adopted.” But “Biden and President Trump are aligned on Afghanistan. They were aligned in their policies. And I wish the President would just own that.”

Host Margaret Hoover asked, [relevant exchange begins around 28:50] “I know you have been critical of both the Trump administration and the Biden administration, but do you believe that Biden needed to continue the policies set by the Trump administration, which led to such an abrupt, and frankly, disastrous withdrawal?”

Ackerman responded, “No. And to insinuate that President Biden had absolutely no alternative but to honor the Doha Agreement, which was a terrible agreement, is — I mean, frankly, is preposterous, and extremely disingenuous. So, he’s the President of the United States, and he showed, across his administration, an ability and a willingness to unwind a host of policies that President Trump had adopted. The fact of the matter is, the Biden administration continued the Trump policies, and they own those policies. They had the ability to renegotiate with the Taliban. They had the ability to change troop levels if they felt that was needed, they had an ability to do a whole host of things. But Joe Biden and President Trump are aligned on Afghanistan. They were aligned in their policies. And I wish the President would just own that.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett