It was called the good war. I remember when George W. Bush delivered his iconic "will not falter, and we will not fail" speech in 2001, marking the start of our invasion into Afghanistan. The Taliban offered refuge to the al-Qaeda operatives. This was the terror group that attacked us on 9/11. We blew their sh** up. It was a justified military operation. In hindsight, maybe there were avenues we took that frankly, we should have avoided at all costs. Now, after two decades of war, we're seeing the nation fall right back into the hands of the Taliban. We see chaos at the airport in Kabul. Thousands of American citizens are stranded behind enemy lines. And we have an administration that would rather be on vacation than address the public about this stunning turn of events. It's not about the popularity of the war, Biden clowns—and one tweet from RealClearPolitics' Sean Trende pretty much represents how most feel about the conflict.
Trende wrote, "It can simultaneously be true that (a) the initial invasion of Afghanistan was justified, (b) it was time to withdraw and (c) this withdrawal has been managed atrociously."
It can simultaneously be true that (a) the initial invasion of Afghanistan was justified, (b) it was time to withdraw and (c) this withdrawal has been managed atrociously.
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) August 17, 2021
I think most Americans would agree with that sentiment.
Biden's people keep citing poll figures about the war. Oh, and they're also blaming Trump. What else is new? But that's not the point, and not even the liberal media went along with the "it's Trump's fault" line.
There are many reasons why Biden's botching of our withdrawal of Afghanistan can't be pinned on the former president. For starters, the White House knew throughout the summer that Afghanistan was very much sliding toward collapse. The intelligence community knew it. The State Department memos sent days after Biden's "this ain't going to be like Saigon" speech on July 8 stated it. Biden also promised our European allies that Kabul would remain secure and stable, adding that there would be sufficient security personnel to make that happen. That was promised in June—and now there's bedlam at the airport. It's a mess, and Biden and his cabal of experts failed to see it coming despite multiple warnings throughout the summer.
Also, what about the trapped Americans? Were we going to leave them post-August 31? It's quite clear there were no contingency plans or any sort of strategy to locate them and get them out. What American wants to remain in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan? We're now at a point where we must trust the Taliban not to kill or harm our citizens, which is bunk because our people are being beaten by them. It's not easy to get to the airport. Every talking point Joe and his spin crew have doled out has been debunked by reporters who are there. Even his own officials have undercut the White House's narrative of the situation on the ground. This is what happens when you have a disengaged president. Yet, was our nasty exit already set in stone?
This war started when the neoconservative project was at the height of its influence concerning the application of American power. Remove the Taliban, establish a democratic government, and prop it up to prevent the nation from becoming a haven for terrorists. Fighting them there so that we don't have to fight them here was the motto. It stuck. It was popular. It's now obvious that this was not a worthwhile venture.
Afghanistan remains deeply tribal. It's very much still in the dark ages. There's no infrastructure. Helicopters, horseback, and being on foot were common methods of transportation at the outset. It's also not a literate country, which, as you could imagine, would cause some issues regarding training the Afghan National Army. We had allies, sure—but caveats placed by our European partners prevented the full operational capacity of our forces. The Germans wouldn't fight in the dark. And I believe the French or the Italians prevented any other nation from being transported in their helicopters. It's one of the many issues.
This is a nation that's called the Graveyard of Empires for a reason. They outlasted the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the British, the Soviet Union, and now us. Did we take our eye off the ball due to the occupational issues that arose when we invaded Iraq? Yes. But the key to counterinsurgency goes way beyond body counts and strategic land gains. You must win over the people; it's about hearts and minds. Such conflicts are very much part of the modern world—it's soaked in politics, which presents a whole new array of issues. It's a war that just falls into micromanagement, which can lead to huge messes, to say the least.
One of the keys to a successful exit strategy is to ensure that the people trust their government. You could argue that died in 2009 when Hamid Karzai was accused of voter fraud in the 2009 election; the ballot boxes were stuffed. In fact, both the 2004 and 2009 elections were tainted by fraud, and we stood by and kept supporting him. How do you think that was received by the folks who knew about this electoral fiasco? A government seen as legitimate by the people is your ticket out.
In Vietnam, the military governments established after the 1963 coup that got rid of Diem were characterized by incompetence and corruption. One more inept than the next, with generals more concerned about enriching their bank accounts than saving South Vietnam. We still supported these governments and trained and supplied their military. We left in a similar fashion—very messy. No one is going to back a government that beats them, robs them, and in the cases of the Afghan security forces, doesn't pay them for weeks. The Taliban did offer money. Are we shocked that the Afghan national forces evaporated so quickly?
Were there Afghan military members who fought hard? Yes. Tens of thousands died fighting the Taliban, but for a government whose electoral process was tainted from the outset. The fact of the matter is that the Taliban, though greatly diminished in the first stages of the war, mounted a massive resurgence. Dealing with them had to be part of our exit.
Was leaving Afghanistan going to be smooth, like leaving for a vacation at Disney World? No. But the scrambling is troubling. The initial instinct that this White House had when the Taliban took over, which was to do and say nothing, is troubling. Joe was on vacation. Jen Psaki was on vacation. They were initially not going to say anything for days; Psaki had an out-of-office auto-response for her email. And then two addresses that detail a situation that is not at all in keeping with reality is another disastrous move. People are there, Joe. I don't know who is telling you what's happening, but they're wrong. It didn't have to be this way. Leaving Bagram Air Force base a month ago was probably a misstep as well. In fact, weeks of missteps and not reading intelligence reports and other cables have landed us with these horrific images at the airport in Kabul.
The American people want out, sir—but by God, you bungled the exit. Is it like Saigon? One could argue that it's worse.