WASHINGTON As the Taliban continue to consolidate their grip over Afghanistan and begin dealing with the international community, they can do so with endorsements and praise from an American president.

No, not current President Joe Biden but his predecessor, Donald Trump the one who agreed to the peace deal so heavily skewed in favor of the terrorist group that it essentially assured its returned to power.

We had a good long conversation today and, you know, they want to cease the violence. Theyd like to cease violence also, Trump said on March 3, 2020, just days after the agreement which was made with the Taliban but not the U.S.-allied Afghan government was signed.

He told reporters hed had a 35-minute phone call with the Taliban leader and had told him: It is a pleasure to talk to you. You are a tough people and have a great country, and I understand that you are fighting for your homeland.

Six months later, Trump said at a news conference: Theyre very tough, theyre very smart, theyre very sharp.

Even now, with the Taliban having overrun the Afghan government and taken back control, Trump continued praising the group, known for its murderous, theocratic tactics. I will tell you theyre good fighters. You have to give them credit for that. Theyve been fighting for a thousand years. Thats what they do is they fight, Trump told Fox Business on Tuesday.

At one point, Trump even claimed that the Taliban would take over the counterterrorism operation the United States had been basing out of Afghanistan. They will be killing terrorists. They will be killing some very bad people. They will keep that fight going, Trump said.

In fact, by the time of the February 2020 agreement, the Taliban had essentially merged with al Qaeda, the terrorist group it had harbored leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. The Talibans refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders to the U.S. was the basis for the U.S. invasion and removal of the Taliban from power in the first place.

I was at a loss as to where he got a lot of his information, a Trump White House official said on condition of anonymity.

Indeed, as Trump and some of his top aides attack Biden for the chaotic departure from Kabul that threatens to leave Americans as well as Afghan nationals who helped the U.S. to the mercy of the Taliban regime, they do so despite having set up the conditions that made a smooth evacuation and withdrawal nearly impossible without yet another troop surge.

That the deal was negotiated with the Taliban, without the Afghan government, immediately sent signals about their future. The Talibans lead negotiator, in fact, was released from a Pakistan prison at Trumps request.