America has just made one of its worst foreign policy mistakes in its entire 245 year history. If left as is, the negative ramifications will mushroom for decades. As such, this situation must be fixed — and the only way to do so is via a massive airlift of U.S. combat troops back into Afghanistan.
Human nature has a characteristic which often proves fatal to those who succumb to it — that being "we are inclined to see what we want to see, instead of what actually is." Investors and government leaders the world over did this in 2005 - 2007, and paid dearly in the Financial Tsunami which followed.
In the wake of our current Afghanistan catastrophe, many U.S. government leaders (and media personalities) are falling into this same trap. The widely respected Peggy Noonan just did so in her Wall Street Journal weekend column, What Biden Can Still Save in Afghanistan:
"If the [Taliban] leadership is thinking strategically and tactically—if—they will see the reasons it’s in their interests to let a U.S. rescue succeed. They’re on top of the world, delighted at their victory. They’ve already humiliated us; they don’t have to do it again right away. There’s no reason for them to want to keep a built-in simmering opposition around. It’s easier to run the country without them. They can always kill the stragglers later. Why should they want the picture of their triumph to be marred by new pictures of vengeance and carnage? They enjoy thinking they’re not barbarians. They want the world to think they’re not the Flintstones dragging their clubs but Taliban 2.0, cool players, real big boys. More violence will only complicate future requests for foreign aid."
This is laughable.
I have news (which isn't really news) for Ms. Noonan, President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and all the others who are seeing what they want to see, instead of what actually is — the Taliban couldn't care less about "complicating future requests for foreign aid" or being recognized by the United Nations. Besides, Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan and others are already back-channeling support to the Taliban. And ISIS and Al-Qaeda fighters are en route en masse to join the new caliphate.
Taliban leaders aren't stupid, nor are they ignorant, they simply have different motivations and interests than we do. As such, our leaders (and media) need to stop viewing the Taliban from the narrow prism of their beliefs and world experiences. What makes an American think the Taliban would share their Brooklyn-born viewpoints, or that they can persuade battle-hardened Muslim mountain fighters on what to do next? The Taliban knows exactly what is in their interests, not Peggy Noonan.
Taliban leaders are more likely to be viewing their current situation from this perspective:
Allah has at last opened the pathway for us to destroy the Great Satan. We have humiliated America with a great defeat, but this is only the beginning. Allah has also gifted 15,000 American infidels into our hands. I say to you, take all the American bribe money we can get, keep assuring the Americans we are letting their people out, but set-up roadblocks everywhere so the Americans can't actually reach the airport. And within the airport refugee chaos, mix in several thousand of our most dedicated fighters (only ones without arrest records) as refugees to go to America to fight like our glorious 9/11 martyrs. In the meantime, solidify control over Kabul and go neighborhood to neighborhood, house to house, and map out where every single American is hiding. They won’t be difficult to find, but don’t touch them, yet.
Our Muslim brothers in Iran had only 52 American hostages and were able to immobilize and humiliate America for 444 days. Think of what we can accomplish with 15,000 American hostages? Prepare 15 separate camps in dense residential neighborhoods...surrounded by barbed-wire and mined with American bombs. The hostages will be our human shields against an American attack. And we will demand America’s complete withdrawal from the Middle East. If they refuse, we will begin beheadings. One the first day, 10 the next, 100 the next, and so on. All videos to be posted to the internet. Jihadis and money will pour in from all over the world to join our glorious fight. Allah has opened the floodgates to our ultimate victory, America's greatest humiliation is on our doorstep, inshallah. And if we die in the fight, Allahu Akbar.
If America's leaders aren't seeing (or talking about) the significant risks presented here, how can they possibly counter them?
The downside to America is acute right now — to the 15,000 plus Americans and allies trapped behind enemy lines, as well as to America's and NATO's interests all around the world.
Though I personally think we should have exited Afghanistan 18 years ago, Biden’s disastrous exit can't be allowed to stand. Afghanistan must be retaken by force in order to show the world (and especially China) that America means business. America must immediately seize the Bagram Air Base and begin the rapid deployment of 100,000 plus U.S. troops into Afghanistan to first re-take Kabul, and then the entire nation, in a lightning speed advance. Our military is equipped to do so.
No one wants to do this, Biden’s incompetent exit necessitates it.
Why did this happen? Because America’s media (backed by Big Tech censoring) hid the truth from the public about Joe Biden’s obvious mental unfitness for office in the 2020 election. Now we all pay the price, and, sadly, many will pay the ultimate price.
Once we have every single American out of Afghanistan, as well as the Afghans we made promises to, then a decision can be made whether to complete our exit, or stay on.
Every day we delay is one day closer to the Taliban taking our 15,000 American brothers and sisters as hostages.
Today, we must "see what actually is," and act accordingly.
George Mullen is author of the book Peace in the Middle East. Likewise, he authored "The Coming Financial Tsunami" (2005) and "Welcome to the Bubble Economy" (2006), which accurately predicted the 2007-08 global economic crash. He is spearheading Sunbreak Ranch in the effort to end America's homeless crisis. He is a principal of StudioRevolution.com in San Diego, California.