Afghan agonistes
In the wake of President Biden’s declaring that, as chaos mounts and the Taliban reboots, he is not at all second-guessing his decision to precipitously pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan — but that the buck stops with him, although there are really many others to blame — comes news that should disturb all Americans.
One: Per National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Biden has not spoken to any other world leaders since the Afghan government folded like a cheap chapan. This despite having said Monday that one of America’s indispensable tools, in lieu of the exercise of military firepower, is “rallying the world to join us.” What the hell, Joe?
Two: Also according to Sullivan, so hasty and ill-planned was the U.S. exit, that “certainly a fair amount” of billions of dollars in American weaponry has fallen into the hands of the (now supposedly kinder and gentler) Taliban, although “we don’t have a complete picture” of where various armaments are. Washington’s freezing of billions of Afghan government reserves, while welcome, must be viewed alongside that huge and dangerous gift to a sworn enemy.
Three: White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki says there are about 11,000 “self-identified” Americans still in the country. While the administration insists they are being prioritized for assistance, she offered no guarantee that they would be evacuated.
Indeed, a U.S. embassy communique that went out Tuesday to American citizens requesting assistance instructed them to “make your way to Hamid Karzai International Airport at this time,” with an all-caps disclaimer that “THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SECURITY AS YOU MAKE THIS TRIP.”
Four: Despite the numbers of Afghans who have helped the United States over 20 years numbering in the hundreds of thousands, just 16,000 have been granted special visas since the beginning of the war, and only 500 have been accepted as refugees so far this year, even as the Taliban has reasserted control. Ending the Afghanistan war was wise. Botching the execution this royally is proving cataclysmic.