Biden’s Afghanistan baloney

Never mind what your lying eyes just witnessed, President Biden told the the world and America, the end of the war in Afghanistan was a historic success. The withdrawal that he promised not long ago would be “safe and orderly,” that was nothing but, couldn’t have gone any other way. The only alternative to this horribly bungled pullout was escalation, another year or five or 10 of war, dooming the American military to even more perilous fighting. In other words: If you find yourself critiquing the frenzied and chaotic exit, wishing there had been some semblance of good planning, you may as well be rooting for the death of more American troops.

It was a success that, contrary to what Biden not long ago told the American people would happen, a government we supported over the course of two decades, with $2 trillion in taxpayer investments and 800,000 U.S. troops, melted in minutes. A success that our sworn enemy, the Taliban, now has billions worth of Pentagon equipment, and bragging rights of a victorious conqueror. A success that America had to scramble to find and rescue its people and the Afghans who had helped us throughout the war, getting many thousands out but leaving who knows how many to now face likely retaliation from the Taliban. A success that we left Afghan allies feeling betrayed and NATO allies feeling abandoned.

And it was a success that 13 American service members and scores of Afghans lost their lives to a terrorist attack from ISIS-K, one that transparently took advantage of the chaos the United States failed to control, including at the Kabul airport.

It couldn’t really have gone any other way, says Biden, even as he plays the grownup by saying he accepts full responsibility for what transpired, ignoring his own 2001 warning that “if we leave Afghanistan in chaos it will be another time bomb waiting to explode.” Full responsibility for what? An operation that supposedly went off without a hitch? As Joe would say: C’mon, man.