White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to point the finger at the Trump administration when questioned at the White House about a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was one of five Taliban commanders released from the detention camp off the coast of Cuba by Obama in exchange for American soldier Bowe Bergdahl.
On Tuesday at the White House, Psaki was asked by a Fox News reporter how President Biden feels about essentially negotiating with a former Guantanamo detainee, who has now become a major figure within the Taliban.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pointed to 'thousands' of individuals released during the Trump administration under a deal with the Taliban, after she was questioned Tuesday about a former Guantanamo detainee who holds sway after the fall of Kabul
'Well first I would note that: One I'd point you to ... the intelligence community to assess the identity of the individual,' she said. 'I know there's been reporting on it but that's not my position to do from here,' she said, failing to deny the report without confirming it either.
'I would also note that in prior negotiations and commitments made during the Trump administration, there were thousands of individuals who were released,' she said, pointing to Biden's predecessor.
'So, our focus right now is on, again, not taking the Taliban's word for it, we are assessing, we are closely watching and we were being very clear about the capacities and the capabilities we have at hand, should they be needed. Of course that's not our objective.'
Khairullah Khairkhwa was one of five Taliban commanders released from the detention camp off the coast of Cuba by Obama in exchange for American soldier Bowe Bergdahl
(Seated L to R) the former minister of planning and higher education Qari Din Mohammad Hanif, former prisoners held by the US at Guantanamo Bay Noorullah Noori, Mohammad Nabi Omari, and Khairullah Khairkhwa, and the Taliban's former intelligence deputy Mawlawi Abdul Haq Wasiq raise their hands as they recite a prayer while seated during the Intra Afghan Dialogue talks in the Qatari capital Doha on July 8, 2019
The US soldier (pictured: Bowe Bergdahl) the Taliban Five were exchanged for has since been dishonourably discharged for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy
Psaki may have been referring to the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, which the U.S. agreed to as part of an agreement in September 2020 as part of the planned phased withdrawal of American troops
While doing so the former president (pictured making a statement about the exchange next to Bowe Bergdahl's parents in 2014) guaranteed the US people that the so-called Taliban Five would be sent to Qatar and incapable of doing any damage in Afghanistan
She may have been referring to the release of 5,000 Taliban, which the U.S. agreed to as part of an agreement in September 2020 as part of the planned phased withdrawal of American troops. The Trump Administration pushed the Afghan government to agree to release the prisoners amid resistance from the government.
The deal was controversial, with one delegate at a parliamentary assembly in Afghanistan saying giving in was tantamount to treason, the New York Times reported.
Psaki was taking the lead from Biden, who also brought up Trump by name in his Monday speech to the nation, for having negotiated an agreement with the Taliban to draw U.S. forces down to 2,500 with an original May total withdrawal date. Many policy experts have ripped that agreement for failing to require the Taliban to disarm or pegging the withdrawal to explicit conditions on the ground.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was released from U.S. custody during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president during part of the controversial prisoner swap for captured American Bowe Bergdahl.
Obama said that the so-called Taliban Five would be sent to Qatar and said at the time that they wouldn't post a threat to Afghanistan.
However, earlier this year Khairkhwa ended up brokering the terms of the withdrawal of troops despite intelligence reports sent to Obama and Biden after his release, according to the New York Post.
The freed Taliban Five were indeed sent to Qatar but simply used their exile to plot the return of the regime.
While speaking to President Biden's Afghanistan envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, earlier this year, Khairkhwa said: 'I started jihad to remove foreign forces from my country and establish an Islamic government, and jihad will continue until we reach that goal through a political agreement.'
He promised that the Taliban wouldn't launch an offensive if Biden removed all US troops and even claimed they wouldn't punish Afghans who had worked with the US military.
But the warlords are now trying to track down Afghans who did just that and are hunting those who cooperated in the toppling of the Taliban regime after the 9/11 attacks.
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