Mehdi Hasan Rips Trump and ‘Tough Guy Mike’ Pompeo for Trying to ‘Rewrite History’ on Their Afghanistan Record

 MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan mocked former President Donald Trump and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, on Monday for pivoting from being “chummy” with the Taliban to attempting to “rewrite history” on Afghanistan.

“In late February 2020, the Trump administration and the Taliban signed a peace agreement calling for all U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan within 14 months; and in early March, Trump spoke on the phone with the leader of the Taliban, describing their chat like this,” Hasan before playing a clip of Trump saying it was “a very good conversation.”

“How chummy,” remarked Hasan. “Now, as American troops pull out of Afghanistan and everything falls apart, there is an effort to rewrite history, to make it seem like what we are seeing is all President Joe Biden’s fault. And let’s be clear — Joe Biden has a lot to answer for, but the reality is of course, that it is not just the Biden administration that got us here.”

Hasan then played a clip of Pompeo telling Fox News on Sunday that the Biden administration should have had an “orderly” plan like the Trump administration did, and that Biden’s messy withdrawal of troops is removed from any of the previous administration’s negotiations.

“Wow. Big talk from Pompeo,” Hasan said. “Big talk. But hold on, Mike, who is this in Doha, standing next to Taliban official Mullah Baradar, who is now the de facto leader of Afghanistan? Oh wait, that’s you, Mike!”

“That is, of course, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Baradar, who was released from prison in Pakistan in 2018 at the request of the Trump administration so he could participate in negotiations,” Hasan said. “The two of them first met in September of 2020 and again two months later in November, because one meeting with the Taliban was not nearly enough for tough guy Mike.”

Hasan then called out Trump for changing his tune about who should get credit for the Afghanistan withdrawal, claiming that up until June, “he did not want Joe Biden to get any credit for his deal.”

“Now, Trump says Joe Biden should resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen in Afghanistan,” he continued. “Donald Trump is nothing if not shamelessly inconsistent.”

He went on to note that Biden blamed the previous administration for the deal he “inherited,” but that there are “a lot of people responsible” for the current situation.

“When you see all of those images [of the Kabul airport and people trying to cling to U.S. planes], it is important to remember there are a lot of people responsible for where we are today,” Hasan said. “It’s not just Joe Biden. It’s not even just Donald Trump. It’s been 20 years of gaslighting, incompetence and bad policy from four presidents, from both parties.”