Sen. Mitt Romney blamed both the Trump and Biden administrations for the chaotic events that swept Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country.
A terrorist attack at the Kabul international airport killed more than 100 people, including 13 U.S. service members, as the U.S. military worked to evacuate Americans and Afghans.
Romney, R-Utah, made his comments during an Aug. 29 interview with CNN host Jake Tapper.
"Recognize that we're in the position we're in right now because of terrible decisions made by two administrations: One, the Trump administration negotiating directly with the Taliban, getting ready to invite them to Camp David, opening up a prison of 5,000 Taliban and probably ISIS-K individuals and letting them free," Romney said on CNN’s "State of the Union."
Up to half of the $14 trillion spent by the Pentagon since 9/11 went to for-profit defense contractors, a study released Monday found. While much of this money went to weapons suppliers, the research is the latest to point to the dependence on contractors for war-zone duties as contributing to mission failures in Afghanistan in particular.
In the post-9/11 wars, U.S. corporations contracted by the Defense Department not only handled war-zone logistics like running fuel convoys and staffing chow lines but performed mission-crucial work like training and equipping Afghan security forces — security forces that collapsed last month as the Taliban swept the country.