Former CENTCOM Commander: Doha Agreement Destroyed the Afghan Government

In an interview with CBS, General Kenneth F. McKenzie, the former commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), stated that the Doha Agreement between the Taliban and the United States, along with the egregious mistakes made in it, destroyed the Afghan government. He believes that the U.S. made the worst negotiation mistakes in this agreement and that the Doha Agreement was an operational mechanism that led to the destruction of the previous Afghan government.

McKenzie also pointed out that the White House’s mistake was treating the Doha Agreement as a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. He emphasized that the Doha Peace Agreement contained a process that, if respected, would have required the Taliban to take specific actions in exchange for the withdrawal of forces, but they did not want this. These statements come a few months after McKenzie had also held U.S. government officials responsible for the disastrous situation in Afghanistan.