I am among those who believe we should have left Afghanistan a very long time ago. In fact, those who are trying to downplay the disastrous manner in which the Biden administration orchestrated the exit point to that fact all the time.
"The real story is that Biden had the courage to get us out of a conflict we should have blah blah blah..."
They don't actually say "blah blah blah," but they might as well have given their deliberate refusal to address how it was done which is what most people are aghast at.
Some go even further, celebrating the move in what might be the most audacious attempt in history to gaslight the American Public. The statement below is from DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.
"Today marks an historic moment in our nation's history. After thousands of lives lost and trillions spent, President Biden accomplished what no president has been able to – ending a 20-year-long war."
Ending a war is easy. France accomplished the same feat in 1940, ending their war with Germany in only 9 months. I'm not sure many people beyond Marshal Philippe Pétain celebrated that particular historic moment.
Again, this is not to say we needed to stay in Afghanistan forever, but life is not a Marvel movie and we can't use the Quantum Realm to go back and change the past. As of August 2021, we were still there, 20 years on, and the only relevant question was, "what do we do now?"
President Biden chose, time and again, to permit the calendar and not circumstances to guide his decisions. He seemed immune to new information. Plans that had been formulated based on "intelligence assessments" that proved disastrously wrong did not seem to affect anything at all.
And here we are.
While I am inclined to say that even well-known progressive Democratic mouthpiece The Washington Post can't cover for Biden this time, I think there might be something else going on here which I will address at the end.
First, the Washington Post editorial. After noting the herculean effort it took to evacuate as many people as they did, the Post notes:
But many thousands of people did not, including former U.S. interpreters and their families, and Afghans classified by President Biden and his administration as "vulnerable" — such as staff for U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations and women's rights activists.
Why were they left behind (including American citizens, although the Post carefully avoids addressing that little fact)?" Why were they "stranded" if I may be so irresponsible?
Because despite things not going according to plan, the plan never changed to accommodate that reality.
As security worsened in the wake of a horrific terrorist attack at the airport last Thursday, and as U.S. troops prepared for their own departure on Monday, time and space ran out for these people. This is a moral disaster, one attributable not to the actions of military and diplomatic personnel in Kabul — who have been courageous and professional, in the face of deadly dangers — but to mistakes, strategic and tactical, by Mr. Biden and his administration.
They are laying responsibility right on Biden's doorstep.
Keep in mind, this is not a guest columnist.
This is the Editorial Board. This is the paper's official position.
Those left behind appear to include many local journalists who worked for U.S.-supported media such as the Afghan service of RFE/RL. Painfully emblematic, too, is the experience of the American University of Afghanistan, all but a few of whose roughly 4,000 students, faculty, alumni and employees remain in Kabul. AUAF was the signature U.S.-funded civilian institution in Kabul.
These people face a horrific future. Why?
A last-ditch attempt to bus several hundred members of the university community to the airport ended in frustration Sunday, when it became clear that civilian rescue flights were ending.
Why were they ending? Because the calendar said so. That's it. That's why. It's like refusing to change your wedding date after you find the church burned down, the groom is in a coma, and the reception hall is surrounded by thousands of bloodthirsty terrorists.
Now, university officials tell us, these — mostly young — Afghans are back in Kabul, feeling abandoned and afraid.
Not to worry, we have "assurances!"
Any "assurances" by the Taliban clash with statements their spokesmen made during the crisis that the United States was wrongly inducing Afghans to leave — not to mention the group's record of murdering perceived enemies. Moreover, two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that still have embassies in Kabul — Russia and China — conspicuously did not sign the U.S.-backed international statement.
You don't say? The two powers generally perceived as our global rivals are not cooperating in easing our humiliating defeat?
As for why the Washington Post suddenly turned on Biden, as much as I'd like to think that even they have their limits (if the DNC Chair and other apologists do not) I've lived in this town too long to believe that purely on faith.
There is a very good chance that Biden has outlived his usefulness. We should all be on the lookout for signs of crumbling support, further talk about the 25th amendment, and proposals regarding a "graceful exit," one the elderly Biden "deserves," his service to the country having been more than fulfilled.
Blah blah blah.
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