The former secretary of defense has blamed former president Donald Trump for the U.S.’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Leon Panetta’s intervention comes as Trump seeks to blame Vice President Kamala Harris for the debacle in which 13 Americans lost their lives.
“Trump is the one who basically set that up,” Panetta said in the One Decision podcast. “He doesn’t mention that but it was his administration that negotiated with the Taliban.”
Panetta added that Trump’s administration “pretty much everything the Taliban wanted…which was a terrible mistake in those negotiations.”
Trump spoke about the Afghanistan withdrawal Monday in an address to the National Guard Association conference in Detroit.
“Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world,” he said.
“When I take office, we’ll ask for the resignations of every single official. We’ll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity to be on my desk at noon on Inauguration Day.”
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance has also blamed Harris at his rallies. On Wednesday, Vance told his audience in Erie, Pennsylvania that Harris can “go to hell” for falling “asleep at the wheel” and having “those 13 Americans lose their lives.”
Kamala Harris, Leon Panetta, Donald Trump. Panetta said in a podcast episode that Afghanistan withdrawal was Trump’s fault.
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Explosions happened in Kabul in 2021, despite multiple assurances from the Taliban that it would not allow attacks Afghanistan.
The attack was carried out by a suicide bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport. At least 183 people were killed, including 180 Afghan civilians and 13 United States military.
President Joe Biden made a public address following the attack, honoring the service members killed.
Former President Donald Trump attends a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on July 29, 2023. Trump’s campaign on Tuesday sent out a fundraising email claiming he “stormed out” of court amid his hush money payment trial.
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Trump made a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 for an initial timetable for the withdrawal of US service members from Afghanistan. Nothing was agreed with the Afghan government, however.
Trump said in a speech on Monday that it was “not that we withdrew, but the way they did it. We were going to do it with dignity and strength.”
While Panetta acknowledged that Biden “could have made a decision not to follow what Trump put in place,” he too wanted to get out of Afghanistan.
Republican vice presidential nominee Ohio Senator JD Vance speaks at a rally at trucking company, Team Hardinger, on August 28, 2024, in Erie, Pennsylvania. Vance addressed a reporter’s question on the reported altercation that took place between members of former President Trump’s staff and officials at the Arlington National Cemetary earlier this week.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
On Monday, Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virigina to honor the 13 service members killed in the attack. He visited with the Gold Star families, who he also invited to speak at the Republican National Convention in July.
An “incident” took place, however, at the cemetery. After laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Trump visited Section 60, where veterans of the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are laid to rest.
His campaign said they were explicitly granted permission to bring “campaign designated media” to the Section 60 area. NPR reported that two members of the Trump campaign had a verbal and physical altercation with an official.
“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. “We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”
The cemetery said in a statement that “federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign.”
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Trump’s attendance was “one way” to recognize the soldiers.
“Another way is to continue to work, maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with TV cameras to make sure that the families of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey Gate, but over the course of the 20 some-odd years that we were in Afghanistan, have the support that they need,” Kirby said.
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