Perhaps seeing an opportunity to leverage Donald Trump’s experience with negotiating with the Taliban, South Carolina Republican Congressional candidate Russell Fry has called on President Joe Biden to appoint Trump to be a special envoy on the Afghanistan withdrawal.
“For the sake of our countrymen in harm’s way, it’s time for Biden to live up to his word and turn to trusted hands who know how to get the job done,” Fry wrote in an op/ed on Inside Sources. “I call on Joe Biden to set aside political differences and, in a spirit of true bipartisan cooperation, appoint Donald J. Trump as his special envoy to oversee the Afghanistan withdrawal.”
With the White House saying the Afghanistan withdrawal is on schedule to end by the August 31st deadline set by Biden, the likelihood of such an appointment is unlikely. Also making it unlikely are the facts that Trump didn’t actually effectuate any action to meet the May 1st deadline he imposed on the withdrawal after signing a treaty with the Taliban in February of 2020, 15 months prior to his deadline, and that Trump’s withdrawal from Syria left tens of thousands of allies stranded.
The State Department estimates that 250 Americans who wish to leave Afghanistan are still in the country. Approximately 6,000 Americans are part of the 120,000 people evacuated out of Afghanistan in one of the most extensive airlift operations in history.
Amazingly, though, Fry contends Trump “has the executive experience necessary to successfully navigate this crisis,” despite a demonstrated track record in both private enterprise and the White House of failing to address key problems and literally bankrupting numerous companies.