After the US spent almost 20 years in Afghanistan, killed hundreds of thousands of people, and spent over $2 trillion, the failure and futility of the war is being put on display as the Afghan government is rapidly collapsing.
The Taliban’s success was predicted, not just by critics of the war, but also by the US government’s Afghanistan watchdog and US intelligence assessments. But the speed of the Taliban’s offensive was not expected, and it is opening up President Biden to criticism for his decision to withdraw.
Some hawks are calling for Biden to ramp up airstrikes against the Taliban to halt the offensive. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement that the Biden administration should “hammer” the Taliban with airstrikes.
“It is not too late to prevent the Taliban from overrunning Kabul. The Administration should move quickly to hammer Taliban advances with airstrikes, provide critical support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) defending the capital, and prevent the seemingly imminent fall of the city,” McConnell said.
The US has stepped up airstrikes in Afghanistan in recent weeks. The bombings have done little but kill civilians, and the Pentagon seems to be focusing the strikes on destroying US military equipment that ends up in the hands of the Taliban. US officials have conceded in comments to the press that limited US airstrikes without a significant ground presence will do little to reverse Taliban gains.
Other critics are not calling for an escalation but are slamming the way in which the US conducted the withdrawal. Even the British government, a close ally in the almost 20-year occupation, is calling Biden’s decision a “mistake.”
President Trump, whose administration negotiated the deal that led to the withdrawal, released a statement Thursday, slamming Biden over the situation. “Had our 2020 Presidential Election not been rigged, and if I were now President, the world would find that our withdrawal from Afghanistan would be a conditions-based withdrawal. I personally had discussions with top Taliban leaders whereby they understood what they are doing now would not have been acceptable,” he said.
“It would have been a much different and much more successful withdrawal, and the Taliban understood that better than anyone. What is going on now is not acceptable. It should have been done much better,” Trump added.
The US-Taliban peace deal signed in February 2020 paved the way for all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan by May 1st of this year. In exchange, the Taliban agreed to begin talks with the US-backed government. The intra-Afghan talks were held to some extent, but have been stalled. One reason for the delay is the fact that President Biden pushed back the original withdrawal deadline.
While fighting was raging in Afghanistan all year, the Taliban’s major offensive didn’t begin until after May 1st. The Taliban appeared to accept Biden’s new deadline since they haven’t attacked any foreign troops. But by pushing it back, the president lost what little chance there was for a political settlement. The Afghan government reportedly presented the Taliban with a power-sharing deal this week, but Kabul has pretty much lost all the leverage it had.
The Biden administration had designs to keep a small military presence in Afghanistan, but at this point, everything is up in the air. The plan was to keep about 650 troops at the embassy in Kabul, and the Pentagon established a military command at the facility. But now, the Taliban could move on Kabul any day, and the US is reportedly planning a full evacuation from the embassy.
The US has deployed an additional 3,000 troops to Kabul to aid in the evacuation, and about 5,000 more are on stand-by in the Gulf region. This means there will soon be more US troops in Afghanistan than there were when Biden came into office. But by all indications, this is not an escalation but an evacuation mission.
They don’t really expect the US will go back into Afghanistan. They don’t even really want that.
They just want to embarrass the “other side” in domestic partisan games.
It is bad faith, and lies, and suggests what is known to be failure so totally foolish.
We should run these fools out of government and out of their pundit/media positions. But in fact, they will keep their opinion columns, and just keep on publishing this stuff as they have for failure after failure.
It’s my notion that the embarrass the “other side” thing is a big part of the uproar, but I fear there is more to it than that.
The Warmongering Corporate Media and its owners is looking towards the NEXT time Biden might be tempted to duck out of the action.
Suppose the Apartheid state stages a repeat of the 1967 attack on Egypt, only this time the target is Iran. The Corporate Media would gloss over the fact the pissant state dropped the first bombs and fired the first missiles, but would instead endlessly harp on the retaliation. The theme would be “Biden Abandoned Afghanistan, Will He Now Allow Holy Israel To Be Destroyed?”
Funny that pundits are writing about Biden’s “legacy” being tarnished but have selective amnesia about President George W. Bush for putting our troops there in the first place. Our exit was long overdue.
The Taliban will soon find themselves over the heads when they have to govern Afghanistan. Also, Germany is the first EU country to flat out say that if the Taliban does take over, which from all appearances they are nearly there, there will be no more money coming from Germany. Other countries in the EU may do the same.
To the Taliban: be careful what you wish for.
There was a time when the Taliban destroyed all poppy growing in the ares they controlled. I doubt that this will happen again. They may not need Germany or other countries in the EU.
They don’t want money. If they wanted money, they would have sold Afghanistan to the US. Afghanistan has been in war for a very long time. If they are allowed peace on their terms, they may come around to realizing a better way to live on their own. Saudi Arabia and Israel are perfect examples of countries with human rights issues that we choose to ignore everyday.
Fifty years ago, the pundit crowd were shedding tears over the fate of the South Vietnamese “enterprenours” who were suddenly in the hands of the North Vietnamese – horrid fates were foreseen for “our allies” – Baloney – having the North takeover was the best thing that could have happened to the South. Other than a few pimps and other crooks, South Vietnam citizens became better off. Probably the same thing will happen in Afghanistan
This is The Fall of Siagon, Act II. This was predicted shortly after the Invasion.
Biden has plenty to answer for, and mismanaging an inevitable withdrawal is one of those things.
Hiring the idiot who said this is another:
Sorry for the link to the Apartheid state “news” site, but as of the time I’m posting this, only four places have mentioned Blinken’s stupid remark. None of them are in the US.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/blinken-says-afghanistan-mission-successful-rejects-kabul-saigon-comparison/
Unless I’ve been misinformed, the Top 3 people in the US State Department are Zionist Warmongers. Totally Biden’s doing, this.
The incompetence of the “Biden Administration” is just amazing. They can’t even manage a swift and orderly evacuation! Look at the “equipment” they’re trying to destroy:
The cost of the missions to destroy this equipment is likely more than what the things are worth. Anyhow, what possible harm can a MRAP do to the US in the future?
I’ve no idea who is screwing this up. Defense Secretary Austin is the first choice, but for all I know he is being overridden by the Neocons in the State Department. Or even the Great POTUS himself. Unbelievable.
Edit: just found an article on the situation at the Saker site. It may be overly friendly to the Taliban, but is still quite informative.
https://thesaker.is/taliban-entered-into-kabul/
The Saker is a bit off, like most Western commentators.
The Taliban did not ‘enter’ Kabul as if they had been kept out.
The Taliban were always there. The US. military threat kept them from moving openly and overtly, but they were always the real Afghan government, such as Afghanistan can be governed.
Old news insofar as everyone expected something like this years ago.
We’ll see if the U.S./Euro NATO manages to kill off the Taliban leadership once they come out of hiding. Islamic State gladios are already inserted and ready to make mayhem.
The real story is not the ‘fall’ of Kabul, but the fall of the West to COVID-1984 authoritarianism.
Still, Biden toppled a Deep house of cards when he reneged on the May 1 deal Trump made. Biden then overtly planned a softer power occupation based from the U.S. embassy.
Trump was clearly going for the Iraq model in Afghanistan, and holding the Embassy was key. That likely would never have worked very well but outright eviction would have been harder for the Taliban; they would have to put themselves in the ‘wrong’ as the first dealbreakers.
The Taliban made a deal with Trump. With much of the world and most Americans believing the 2020 election was stolen – its only a question of whether one agrees with the stealing or not – the U.S. Deep State proved itself not agreement capable with anyone.
The Taliban acted accordingly.