Jake Tapper Launches Disingenuous Attack on Nikki Haley Over Afghanistan By Omitting Key Context

Jackson RichmanAug 21st, 2021, 10:05 am
 

CNN host Jake Tapper disingenuously attacked former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley on Thursday for criticizing President Joe Biden’s disastrous policy on Afghanistan, which has now been taken over by the Taliban.

On New Day, co-host John Berman cited Haley’s tweet on Wednesday: “To have our Generals say that they are depending on diplomacy with the Taliban is an unbelievable scenario. Negotiating with the Taliban is like dealing with the devil.”

“She was U.N. Ambassador when the Trump administration began dealing with the Taliban, correct?” Berman asked Tapper, who answered in the affirmative.

Tapper went on to mention a statement the former ambassador made in January 2018. The statement said, “The U.S. policy on Afghanistan is working. We could see dramatic changes in terms of what the U.S. policy has been doing. We are seeing that we are closer to talks with the Taliban and the peace process than we’ve seen before.” Tapper omitted that crucial bolded sentence.

Additionally, as part of Haley’s remarks to the press, which were made at the U.N. shortly after a trip she and a U.N. Security Council delegation took to Kabul to meet with Afghan officials, the then-ambassador said, “We’re working hand in hand with the Afghans and I think that we really are going to continue to work toward a peace process with the goal being that we do not want Afghanistan to be a safe haven for terrorism anymore.” Tapper also disregarded that quote.

Instead of acknowledging that Haley’s remarks came at time when the U.S. policy in Afghanistan was one of strength — one in which the Taliban was kept at bay, and the country was deterred from becoming a safe haven to plot another 9/11 — Tapper ran with his selective editing and accused Haley and former Trump administration members of an “attempt to memory hole the last four years under President [Donald] Trump.”

“I’m not faulting the Trump administration for attempting to achieve some sort of peace deal with the Taliban. You don’t make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies. That’s how peace deals work,” said Tapper. “But there is this attempt by former Secretary [Mike] Pompeo, Vice President [Mike] Pence, Trump is all over the map on this, Nikki Haley, and their supporters in Congress to pretend that there is something demonstrably different about what Biden did than what Trump would have done.”

It is important to note that while Trump, Pence and Pompeo are deserving of criticism for the awful deal the United States made with the Taliban in February 2020, which required the Taliban to disassociate from Al Qaeda (which was a fantasy) and included the release of Taliban prisoners (a dangerous move), Biden could have reversed that deal as he has with many other Trump policies. Second, that agreement was reached more than a year after Haley left office.

While Haley is deserving of criticism for not speaking out against that agreement, it is misguided to single out Haley in the manner Tapper did — given that the conditions in 2018 were different than the conditions when Biden withdrew recklessly and hastily. This pullout was a disgraceful and immoral surrender that empowered the Taliban to take over Afghanistan. Haley’s advocacy was for peace through strength, whereas Biden has pushed for unconditional surrender through weakness.

Tapper’s attack on Haley, though, does serve to illustrate how strong of a presidential candidate she could be in 2024. It seems a clear acknowledgement of her electoral prowess that the knives from the mainstream media are already out.

Watch the video clips above, via CNN and Twitter.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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