Condoleezza Rice Explains Why It Was ‘A Good Decision’ To Nix Taliban Talks

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined the chorus of criticism leveled at President Donald Trump over his now-nixed plan to meet with Taliban leaders close to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I probably would not have chosen to do the meeting at Camp David three days before 9/11,” she said on Monday’s broadcast of “The Late Show.” “Let’s just say I might have found another venue.”

But Rice, who served as the national security adviser to former President George W. Bush at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the United States’ invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, supported nixing the talks. “Whatever the reason, it was a good decision,” she told host Stephen Colbert.

Trump announced the cancellation of the previously secret peace talks over the weekend after the militant group admitted to carrying out a deadly car bomb attack in Kabul that killed 12 people, including a U.S. soldier.

The news that the president had even been considering meeting with the group drew bipartisan backlash.

Rice suggested that the Taliban had become too confident during recent negotiations with the United States and now thought “we want to deal far more than they do.”

“Over the last years, not just the Trump administration, but going back to the Obama administration, we were talking about the importance of leaving, we need to bring the troops home. We all want this war to end,” she said. “But I think the Taliban had become convinced that they could get just about any deal, and it’s good that the meeting was canceled.”

Check out the full interview here: