KABUL, Afghanistan – In an exclusive interview with TOLOnews, former US ambassador to UN and National Security Adviser John Bolton, said that Donald Trump’s decision to sign the Doha agreement between the United States and the Taliban was a big mistake.
His remarks came at a time both the Taliban leadership and the United States have repeatedly blamed each other for breaking the pact – mainly after the recent American drone strike that killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri at an urban safe house in Afghanistan.
“I think history has proven in fact that it was a terrible agreement,” he said, as TOLOnews quoted. “The objective the Taliban wanted was America, NATO, out of Afghanistan, everything else was secondary.”
According to Bolton, the former US envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad did not contribute positively during the peace negotiation, saying he was “taking orders” from both the former President Trump and the Secretary Pompeo.
“Let’s be clear, he was taking orders from President Trump and Secretary Pompeo, so whatever criticisms one makes about Zal’s (Zalmay Khalilzad) performance should be understood as criticizing both what Trump and Pompeo were instructing,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Bolton exclaimed the Islamic Emirate leadership has failed to uphold its commitments, increasing the chances for Afghan soil to be used as the battleground for many terrorist activities, including bombing against other nations.
“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,” he explained. ‘Now we are not entirely blind, but we are certainly not in the position we were.”
But the Islamic Emirate rule has repeatedly denied the accusation, defying the United States has consistently violated the Doha agreement.
Doha agreement between the United States and the Taliban leadership focuses on a number of key points, which includes observing women’s rights, freedom of speech, and not using Afghan soil as a threat against any country, including the America.
