Posted on 08/17/2021 8:08:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Democrats are defending Joe Biden’s actions that led to the debacle in Afghanistan by pretending the debate is about whether he was right or wrong in ending “The Forever War.” That’s a strawman argument. Very few people are arguing we shouldn’t have left Afghanistan. Most are arguing we should have left long ago.
The real debate about the tragedy in Afghanistan is whether competent leadership could have avoided it.
Biden defended his administration by pointing the finger at everyone else. It’s Trump’s fault because he “left a bare cupboard” in Afghanistan. Apparently, there was no plan by the Trump administration to evacuate from the Kabul airport if the Taliban took over.
Why there should have been a plan in the first place is a question that goes unanswered — especially since the endgame envisioned by most American policymakers during the Trump years was a gradual drawdown of American troops while the Afghan army “stood up” to replace them. That drawdown would have taken place simultaneously with the conclusion of a negotiated agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Biden’s rush to withdraw American troops gave the Taliban absolutely no incentive to negotiate. They attacked thanks to the opening given them by the Biden administration. The Afghanistan national army, seeing that they had been abandoned by the United States, realized the hopelessness of their plight and skedaddled.
Why would Biden expect that Afghan army to stand and fight when he had signaled loud and clear to the Taliban that the U.S. would politely step aside and let the Taliban pass?
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Yes, I get the point on the brutality of war. But I still maintain that attributing their flight to tribalism is too simplistic or they wouldn't have kept on fighting after taking the heavy losses they did.
It was a mistake to negotiate with the Taliban, and announce a planned withdrawal, but the responsibility for the cock-up is all Biden’s. The senile coot can’t avoid all responsibility for his mistakes.
Why? With Uzbekistan and Turkey offering refugee status to people fleeing from Afghanistan, our military could have facilitated that process from day 1 and done any processing for American status from a more stable place. This did not have to happen like this.
Trump might have pulled our exit better so the Taliban weren’t moving in as we moved out. But at some point they’d have taken over once we got out of the way.
Correct.
Joe was banking on the government holding on past Sept 11 and he would bask in the glow of pulling the troops out while leaving behind a successful country. He thought they would hold on long enough for America to forget. He didn’t want to leaving in May because he wasn’t sure they would hold on past Sept 11.
It was all optic driven. The people there, and here, be darned.
It also had the advantage of being on China's backyard, which is likely why Biden was in such a hurry to give it up.
-PJ
“Much of the Taliban movement has happened under Biden.”
Do you mean the Taliban as a movement (organization), or are you referring the operational movements of the Taliban.
“Much of the Taliban movement has happened under Biden.”
Do you mean the Taliban as a movement (organization), or are you referring to the operational movements of the Taliban?
I have only two types of primary sentiments dominating my spirit today. The first is the Americans who have died doing what was asked of them in Afghanistan. The second is the massively desperate Afghans trying to get of their country today. Inwardly I have so many tears for both.
Operational.
So, the optics for Biden might be ugly, But the end result for even a Trump presidency would still be the same. Why blame Biden? He can’t make the sun rise in the west, nor can he stop it from setting in the west. Que Sera, Sera.
I thought that was rule 1 in military withdrawal or at least near the top.
RE: We let Zbigniew Brzezinski skate.
And Jimmy Carter.
I’m not sure I understand your reasoning... are you saying that we should have just lived with a gloating Osama Bin Ladin in Afghanistan protected by the Taliban?
Why obsess with blame in the first place? Biden’s the 4th president to deal with an occupied Afghanistan. Missteps happened with all 4. Obsessing with blaming 1 guy is pointless. Better to understand the situation. None of this is terribly new, we’ve occupied many places over the years and the formula is pretty consistent:
a country that rebuilds a useful government quickly will stand without us
one that doesn’t won’t
Not true.
They have been moving with increasing pressure and success since Trump announced his May 2021 withdrawal timeframe. Biden’s errors just advanced things to this summer instead of this fall. But either way, the Afghan air force was not ready to assume what the U.S. air force had continued to supply - air support and intelligence - that the Afghan fighters on the ground depended on (trained to fight in our style), and once the U.S. air force role was over, that was it. Biden and his new Pentagon chiefs also had drawdown and evacuation plans that amounted to unplanned chaos.
“He would have bombed the living daylights out of the Taliban if they so much as made a move toward US troops and Kabul.”
That is still on the table. They know they can be ‘Sulamanied’ at any time. The assets that set that up and executed it have been in place for years. There are agreements that kept it from happening. Nothing has changed.
Don’t be shocked when we flip to supporting the ‘Emirate of Afghanistan’.
Maybe this was the “decent interval” problem familiar from Vietnam. Maybe we couldn’t prevent a Taliban take over from happening eventually, but Biden could have prevented it happening now. And the longer the interval, the less “inevitable” the ultimate collapse might have become.
My mind always goes to wouldn’t it be great if we boobie trapped the embassy and of key locations.
So,when the beheadings begin we start blowing them up remotely.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.