Posted on 08/27/2021 5:26:03 AM PDT by Kaslin
Say what you will about President Joe Biden, he has stuck to his guns on ending America's 20-year involvement in Afghanistan's forever war.
His decision not to delay our departure after Aug. 31 was fortified by hard intel that the terrorist ISIS-K was preparing attacks at Kabul airport.
Thursday evening, the two bomb attacks occurred.
It now seems inevitable that the withdrawal will be completed by Aug. 31, with all U.S. military forces following the last civilians out.
Before yesterday's attacks, the airlift had been going far better than in its chaotic first days. Some 100,000 Americans and Afghans had gotten out of the country since Aug. 14.
Biden held his ground, refusing to be stampeded by Democratic critics, NATO allies, Republican hawks or media demanding he extend the deadline for departure until all Americans were out.
His adamancy testifies to the convictions Biden came by during decades at the apex of the U.S. government during our longest war.
Those convictions:
Even if the end result of a withdrawal is that Afghanistan falls to the Taliban, the cause is not worth a continuance of the U.S. commitment or the blood and treasure that four presidents have invested.
Better to accept a U.S. defeat and humiliation than re-commit to a war that is inevitably going to be lost.
Biden's decision and the botched early days of the withdrawal have not been without political cost. Polls show the president's approval rating sliding underwater. A Suffolk poll has him down to 41%.
Yet, on his basic decision to get out now and accept the costs and consequences, his country appears to be with him. After all, former President Donald Trump was prepared to depart earlier than Aug. 31, and a majority of Americans still support the decision to write off Afghanistan and get out.
Still, we need to realize what this means and what is coming.
According to the secretary of state, 6,000 Americans were still in Afghanistan when the Afghan army collapsed and Kabul fell. Some 4,500 of these have now been evacuated.
The State Department is in touch with 500 other U.S. citizens to effect their departure. As for the remaining 1,000, we do not know where they are.
What does this mean?
Hundreds of Americans are going to be left behind, along with scores of thousands of Afghan allies who worked with our military or contributed to the cause of crushing the Taliban. And many of those Afghans are going to pay the price of having cast their lot with the Americans.
After Aug. 31, the fate of those left behind will be determined by the Taliban, and we will be made witness to the fate the Taliban imposes.
This generation is about to learn what it means to lose a war.
When the war for Algerian independence ended in 1962, and the French pulled their troops out, scores of thousands of "Harkis," Arab and Muslim Algerians who fought alongside the French, were left behind.
The atrocities against the Harkis ran into the tens of thousands. Such may be the fate of scores of thousands of Afghans who fought beside us.
Biden's diplomats may be negotiating with the Taliban to prevent the war crime of using U.S. citizens left behind as hostages. But we are not going to be able to save all of our friends and allies who cast their lot with us and fought alongside us.
Yet, while the promises of the Taliban are not credible and ought not to be believed, we are not without leverage.
As The New York Times writes, the Afghan economy is "in free fall."
"Cash is growing scarce, and food prices are rising. Fuel is becoming harder to find. Government services have stalled as civil servants avoid work, fearing retribution."
The Taliban's desperate need is for people to run the economy and for money from the international community to pay for imports of food and vital necessities of life.
What will also be needed from us, soon after the fall of Afghanistan, is a reappraisal of America's commitments across the Middle East.
We have 900 U.S. troops in Syria who control the oil reserves of that country and serve as a shield for the Syrian Kurds.
How long should we keep them there?
We retain several thousand troops in Iraq. Why?
These are questions for which new answers are going to be needed.
Indeed, there will be a temptation to counter our defeat and humiliation with defiant gestures or precipitate action to restore our lost credibility. Henry Kissinger's advice on any such action today seems wise:
"No dramatic strategic move is available in the immediate future to offset this self-inflicted setback, such as by making new formal commitments in other regions. American rashness would compound disappointment among allies, encourage adversaries, and sow confusion among observers."
As for Afghanistan and the Kabul airport, there comes a time when even a great nation needs to accept the reality that Corregidor is lost.
Fully agree. He sounds like Charles Lindbergh with a column like this.
ISIS-K is the latest Taliban variant.
the article says 100K ‘americans’ got out but a few paragraphs later says only 6K were in Kabul when the tally man walked in, with 1500 to go. So which is it?
Reality? My grandmother's best friend while growing up was an Army Nurse, when WWII began she was in Manila, when Manila fell she went to Corregidor. When Corregidor was captured, to Bataan. She spent 2+ years in a Japanese POW camp. You did not have to explain reality to her. She published a book about it. I have a couple of autographed copies. She retired from the Army as a Lt.Col.
thats what needs to be learned here...how the hell 5000 US Forces got trapped and surrounded on a civilian airport by a peasant army...and this is far from over. This bizarre date certain of Aug 31st???....i’d hate to be on ANY plane leaving that airport next Tuesday....all it takes is one RPG.....this is all so bizarre it defies all logic. This is all on that senile bastard and his advisors...
This is why the CIA chief, acting as our country’s Mamoru Shigemitsu, was sent to Afghanistan. Like the actions on the USS Missouri, we have formally surrendered and undoubtedly agreed to hand over pallets of cash in humiliation and for the passage of Americans.
Like the official Biden line, the author of this article whitewashes current events under the false rubric that we just needed to get out of Afghanistan. Yes, the vast majority of Americans wanted out. Trump was going to do that but Mitch McConnell and his deep state buds essentially nixed that. The real issue is surrendering Bagram, bringing all our troops home in the dead of night and leaving ten of thousands of American and NATO civilian to the Taliban wolves. This was a miscalculated withdrawal on such a scale as to be the very definition of malfeasance.
Biden has humiliated this country before the entire world. The repercussions of this is incalculable in my opinion. Just wait until the YouTube vids of the torture, killings, and rapes. I personally would never ever trust America. In fact, I refused to allow my son to follow my footsteps and join the military.
No, this is not simply about leaving, this is emblematic of a military and government that has been completely rotted out by wokism. And I predicted this, right here, long ago. And it’s not over. America will again suffer because significant damage because we fly the rainbow flag and “celebrate” pregnant fighter pilots.
Our military priority needs to be to defend the US border from foreign invaders.
As long as we fail to do that, all foreign policy is a sick joke.
yep, he surrendered to Chine, not the tollyBon.
Correct. A large percentage of this generation (and America in general) doesn’t exhibit much concern about Afghanistan or care about the consequences of this disastrous adventure. The lessons of history are of little interest to them. They’re more into social media, sitcoms and socialism.
This is all on that senile bastard and his advisors...
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‘Lie’den is the “Fool of Kabul” ... his advisers are either fools themselves, or traitors. Frankly, it doesn’t matter which at this point - there needs to be severe ‘consequences’ for all of them because this situation/dead military was preventable. They are enabling the murder of our troops ... those that died yesterday and any that die at HKIA in the future as they try to leave.
Why just a mortar?
The Taliban has D-130 122mm howitzers. Dunno ‘bout serviceability, or ammo, but it would not surprise me if they had help getting them into action.
Kabul airport is a death trap - just like Dien Bien Phu. If the Taliban wants to stop the evacuation, they have means to do so.
If Joe Biden ran for re-election against Donald Trump tomorrow he’d win the same overwhelming share of the 18-29 age group that he won last November.
Comparing Afghanistan to Corregidor is like comparing apples and pyramids. Corregidor, like the Alamo, fell due to the enemy's overwhelming force. Afghanistan fell due to ineptitude, cowardice and betrayal.
Correct. A large percentage of this generation (and America in general) doesn’t exhibit much concern about Afghanistan or care about the consequences of this disastrous adventure. The lessons of history are of little interest to them. They’re more into social media, sitcoms and socialism.
Yep. Don’t forget Tik Tok.
Other countries have no respect for any country that cannot defend its own border. The illegal immigrants pouring into this country might want to think a little bit about how fickle and capricious the country they’re moving into is and what it might mean for them in a few years.
there needs to be severe ‘consequences’ for all of them
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Washington is a city of no consequences or accountability. For anything.
Biden/Harris are INCOMPETENT IDIOTS.
Thousands American civilians left behind, 7K Taliban prisoners set free, $85 Billion in equipment left behind, Bagram and all COPS & JCOPS abandoned. Biden/Harris and all those leftist Democrats who voted for them OWN THIS DEBACLE. THEY SHOULD BE TRIED FOR TREASON AND PUBLICALLY HANGED!
There was an OPORD and it wasn’t followed. I was in NW Afghanistan for a year as a US Army Combat Infantryman.
1) Get all American civilians out first.
2) Get out all Taliban prisoners (CONAIR).
3) Get out all aircraft, vehicles, and equipment.
4) Get out the Terps who helped us.
5) Get all US Military out.
6) Drop JDAM’s and MOAB’s on ALL our air bases, COPS, and JCOPS (preferably just when the Taliban have moved in).
7) Close down Bagram and all other air bases.
8) Fly away and don’t come back
It’s worse than malice. It’s treason
Washington is a city of no consequences or accountability. For anything.
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Totally aware of that fact - notice I said “needs to be” not “will be”.
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