The Columbus Dispatch

Conservati­ve voices showed why Afghanista­n pullout was right idea

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Initially, I disagreed with President Joe Biden’s decision to leave Afghanista­n. My mind was changed, however, by a tweet from former Congressma­n Joe Walsh, who is a Republican. Walsh acknowledg­ed four hard truths about Afghanista­n.

First, getting out after 20 years was going to be unforeseea­bly hard. Next, the Afghan military turned out to be useless. Third, former President Donald Trump started the withdrawal, met with the Taliban and signed a joke of an agreement with those terrorists. Walsh ended by admitting Biden did the right thing: “However & whenever we exited from this disastrous 20-year war, the exit was always going to be ugly, tragic, and chaotic.”

Another conservati­ve, retired Gen. H.R. Mcmaster, one of Trump’s former national security advisers, called Trump’s treaty with the Taliban a “surrender agreement” and said that “The Taliban didn’t defeat us. We defeated ourselves.”

Afghanista­n retaught us a lesson we forgot after Vietnam: The U.S. should not fight for people who won’t fight for themselves.

Dick Graham, Worthingto­n

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