Donald Trump Brags About Compliment From Taliban: ‘Your Excellency’

Donald Trump has once again bragged about his relationship with the Taliban during his time as president.

Referring to a conversation with the Taliban leader before the 2021 withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Trump said, “I said, ‘We’re gonna have to hit you people so hard like we’ve never hit anybody.’ And he understood. He said: ‘Yes, Your Excellency, I understand.’ He called me ‘Your Excellency.’ I wonder if he calls that to Biden. I doubt it,” said Trump during a press conference in New Jersey on August 15.

“He understood that and respected us and for 18 months not one American soldier was killed,” added Trump, referencing the period following his deal to end the war in late February 2021, according to PolitiFact.

Trump said that during his time in office, Afghanistan was safer for Americans and Afghan civilians. He said he “dealt with” the organization’s leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who he called a “strong and smart” man.

This is not the first time Trump has bragged about his relationship with the Taliban leader and his use of the honorific. On July 19, during his speech at the Republican National Convention, the GOP candidate criticized the amount of American equipment left in Afghanistan after the withdrawal.

“He said, ‘I understand, Your Excellency.’ He called me ‘Your Excellency.’ I wonder if he calls the other guy ‘Your Excellency.’ said Trump. In November 2023 Trump also referred to the same conversation in similar terms.

In 2018, Trump shared a letter sent to him by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after the U.S. and DPRK summit, in which he was also referred to as “Your Excellency.” The term is commonly used to refer to people representing their countries in an official capacity abroad, per Cambridge English Dictionary.

In February 2020, the Trump administration signed a peace agreement with the Taliban, which was hailed by Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a significant step toward ending the long-standing conflict in Afghanistan. The deal, signed in Doha, Qatar, included a U.S. troop withdrawal timeline and commitments from the Taliban to prevent terrorism.

President Joe Biden said the Doha agreement forced his hand in withdrawing U.S. troops, a move that resulted in the rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and has led to questions about whether the deal was too lenient.

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