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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said President Biden's foreign policy "fails to understand" the "harsh reality" of good versus evil, warning, in an interview with Fox News, that without considering the "ramifications" of his administration's actions around the globe, "America will be diminished."
Fox News spoke with the former secretary of state before he and former Trump national security adviser Robert O'Brien received the Richard Nixon Foundation's 2021 Architect of Peace Award for their work in developing and implementing the 2020 Abraham Accords and the 2020 Serbia-Kosovo economic normalization agreements. They were also honored for their oversight of the repatriation of more than 50 American hostages detained abroad.
Speaking broadly about the shift in foreign policy from the Trump administration to the Biden administration, Pompeo told Fox News that international partners and allies are growing increasingly concerned about America's role in the world.
"I think the world is very worried," Pompeo said. "I think they see the first nine months, and they are very concerned that America is leaving the international stage."
Pompeo reflected on a number of foreign policy actions taken under Biden's leadership – including the full withdrawal of U.S. military assets from Afghanistan, which led to the Taliban takeover of the country, and the negotiations for a potential reentry into the JCPOA Iran Nuclear Deal.
"At its very core, what the Biden administration fails to understand is there is a harsh reality out there, that there is evil and there is good," Pompeo said. "And if you withdraw from Afghanistan without considering the ramifications and dealing with them and making sure the conditions are right, America will be diminished."
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at Jerusalem Post's annual conference on Oct. 12, 2021 in Jerusalem. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images) (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
"If you don't make clear that you're going to be an unbreakable ally of the state of Israel, then the Iranians will provide rockets to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and they will fire them into the state of Israel," he continued. "And if you don't understand that American energy is an incredibly powerful national security tool, and instead, you shut it down and give the Russians access to European markets, and beg the Middle East to build more production capacity, you put America at risk."
He added: "Those are just indisputable facts. That is the reality of the world that we live in, and the Trump administration was serious about using American power as a force for good in the world against the backdrop of reality."
With regard to the administration's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pompeo said the "singular greatest mistake" in the mission was "the one that was made by the commander in chief himself."
"To set an arbitrary, unconditional deadline," Pompeo explained, referring to Biden's public commitment to withdraw all assets by Aug. 31. "And once that's done, once you set the date certain, then the bad guys know that they can push you--and that's what they did."
Pompeo said the Taliban also "pushed us."
"But when the Taliban pushed us, we crushed them," Pompeo said. "When you set a date certain, and they push on you and you withdraw, inch by inch, yard by yard, this didn't just happen in 11 days-- that's the myth the Biden administration tells. This wasn't 11 days, this was weeks and weeks and weeks of the Taliban advancing on provincial capitals all across the country."
Pompeo went on to describe it as "a failure of America to respond, to make clear that that's unacceptable, and then the ultimate collapse of the Afghan government, as we, for some reason, oddly, closed Bagram, pulled out most of our military forces while we still had, or still have dozens if not hundreds of Americans behind, what is today, enemy lines."
Reflecting on his interactions with members of the Taliban during the Trump administration, Pompeo said they only "understood one thing."
"Power. They understood American power," he said.
The Trump administration initially set conditions with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in May 2021 – a date Biden extended – but under the conditions that no U.S. military assets or service members were harmed.
"The arrangement was only as good as your willingness to enforce it, and to watch them, and to call them on it, and to demand, and when they don't comply, to impose real costs on them," Pompeo said.
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"The world is looking for American leadership," he continued. "They are looking for a president who is prepared to take real action to defend the things they articulated as important."
Citing actions under former President Trump, Pompeo said "we were prepared to use, very judiciously, American military power and American economic power to deliver."
"I pray that they restore American credibility," Pompeo said of the Biden administration. "I think they have an opportunity to do that."
Pompeo was honored at the Nixon Foundation for his work during the the Trump administration.
Pompeo was a key player in brokering the Abraham Accords, which the Trump administration called a "historic peace agreement" between Israel and the United Arab Emirates that normalized relations and created bilateral agreements regarding "investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, health care, culture, the environment, the establishment of reciprocal embassies, and other areas of mutual benefit."
At the time, Israel and the UAE also said they would continue their efforts to "achieve a just, comprehensive and enduring resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Pompeo also helped broker the agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, which normalized economic relations between the two countries. It also included Kosovo recognizing Israel, and Serbia agreeing to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
"It is incredibly humbling to receive this award, two presidents had it, Dr. Kissinger, Annenberg," he said. "It is an illustrious group of people, and so to be considered amongst those, for me, is really quite something."
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As for his future plans, there has been speculation of potential White House ambitions.
On that topic, Pompeo told Fox News he has "been at the fight for our republic, to protect liberty and freedom here in the United States for an awful long time."
"There is no reason to think that I will do anything but stay in that effort, to promote conservative ideas for the next 20 or 30 years," Pompeo said.
He added: "What role that will be in? Only the Lord knows."
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