Grieve for those killed in Kabul
We have a duty to pay attention to our country’s wars, soldiers and leaders.
Thursday, the deadliest day for American troops in Afghanistan in a decade, wasn’t the top story on the Chronicle’s website. Not even close. Readers were apparently more interested in a Houston doctor vouching for some dangerous COVID-19 treatment the Food and Drug Administration has warned against.
The suicide bombings that tore through Kabul, killing more than 60 Afghans and at least 13 American service members — including 11 U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy medic — didn’t even earn top billing on the major Texas news websites we surveyed late in the afternoon.
It brought to mind a saying that military folks have repeated often during the decades of war that followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks: “America is not at war. America is at the mall.”
No patriotic citizen of this country wants to admit the truth of that statement, but it doesn’t make it any less astute.
Indeed, last week as Kabul fell, you couldn’t view a slideshow of photos from the scene on CNN’s website without bizarre incursions from commercial messaging.
First, a photo depicting a twisted bouquet of desperate Afghans dangling from a passenger boarding bridge, trying to enter a departing plane.
Then, a spit-polished quartz counter top in a gleaming white kitchen, with the words, “Can Refinancing Your Home Mortgage Save You Money?”
Next, dueling images of a CNN reporter and a bearded, turbaned Taliban spokesman in dark glasses.
Then, sleek sneakers, navy, with caramel leather accents and the words, “NFL Star Rob Gronkowski Loves These Shoes.”
Lastly, the iconic photo depicting the fall of Saigon, a rooftop of equally desperate people from another time and place, clambering in a long chain from a departing helicopter pad.
Yes, media companies have to make money to stay in business. That includes this newspaper. And families have to make a living. And parents have to buy school supplies for the first day of school. And we all have to worry about COVID-19 surging. And hurricanes in the Gulf. And global warming.
We also have a duty as Americans to pay attention to the wars our country is fighting, the lives and limbs our soldiers are risking for our security, and the decisions our leaders are making in our name.
In a country where less than 1 percent of the population serves in the military, it’s easy to become complacent and take the service of others to our nation for granted. But we must stop changing the channel and turning the page. We must look at the images of droves of Afghans, pressing up against a wall lined with concertina wire, waving visa paperwork like flags of surrender, pleading with our government to help them as they helped us.
We must read about the deranged suicide bombers, one who detonated his hate at a hotel where Westerners would gather for transport to the airport, and the other who reportedly waded in a fetid sewage canal so his explosives would kill as many as possible near an airport gate.
One of the reasons our war in Afghanistan has dragged on for 20 years is because many Americans are too detached, too distracted, too comfortable in our own worlds to demand otherwise.
Newsflash: While we were sleeping, America spent more than $2 trillion in Afghanistan and more than 2,400 American soldiers lost their lives.
When President Joe Biden issued a stern message to Thursday’s attackers, believed to be members of an Islamic State affiliate, he made some promises.
“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this,” he said at a press conference. “We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay.”
Biden will be held accountable for keeping his word. And we Americans must remember our duty to our military men and women who stand ready to defend our country, our freedoms and our lives. We must “support our troops,” not with yellow ribbons, but with words, with actions, with votes.
Biden kept his promise to the American people to get out of Afghanistan. This editorial board believes he made dire mistakes and miscalculations in executing that vow but we also recognize that he has the unenviable position of cleaning up the mess of past presidents — Republican and Democrat — who couldn’t bring themselves to end a forever war in a country where we never stood a chance of making forever change.
The families of the service members lost Thursday, as well as the families of those Afghans killed, will never stop mourning. They deserve our prayers, our attention, our collective grief.
Most importantly, the soldiers who showed courage in their readiness to stand guard at the Hamid Karzai International Airport even in those hours and minutes and seconds when it was clear a terrorist attack was imminent, they deserve our gratitude.
Even as their loved ones are being notified of their deaths, the families of other service members whose loved ones remain in Kabul, where more attacks are expected, are praying upon their pillows that they’ll come home safe. All Americans should join in that hope.
The bravery of the skeleton crew of U.S. forces still in Afghanistan is the only reason our mission can continue over the next few days to rescue American citizens and Afghan allies pleading to escape brutality, imprisonment or execution by the new Taliban rulers.
The massive American-led airlift over the past two weeks that has reportedly transported more than 100,000 people to safety is an impressive military feat by anyone’s measure. Whether it could have happened in a less chaotic, less tragic way will be debated for decades.
There’s no debate that it never could have happened without our troops. Take a moment from your busy life and find a way to thank them. And for those who paid the ultimate price in this life-saving mission, find a moment to grieve.