Withdrawal from Afghanistan did not need to end badly

In response to the column by Darrell Allen (“We knew involvement in Afghanistan would end badly,” Aug. 27 – Sept. 2) this withdrawal did not need to end badly. President Trump had a meeting with the Taliban leader (with Mike Pompeo and others present) where he made it very clear that if the Taliban or any of their affiliates made a move against an American, they would be wiped off the face of the earth. As a result, not one American soldier lost their life for 18 months before Biden took office. Pompeo and Trump have said they had specific criteria that had to be met before it was safe to withdrawal. Trump’s policy was to also never abandon Bagram Air Base because of its strategic location, and to destroy the other bases after all armament, assets and of course personnel were removed.

President Biden did the unthinkable by pulling the military before getting everyone out making deals with terrorists to manage the evacuation. Worse than that, he gave them a complete list of every American and Afghan supporter. It is being reported that the Taliban are going from house to house executing these supporters.

Then there is the 60 some odd billion taxpayer dollars of high-tech weaponry and assets that were abandoned, a large portion of which will be sold to China and Russia for reverse engineering.

British Parliament is slandering the U.S. President and country and we are a laughingstock to the whole world.

To sum it up, our leadership has betrayed our people, our soldiers and families, and our standing in the world. I can’t get much worse than that. And we haven’t touched the disastrous domestic policy. This is what happens when people vote on personality instead of policy. Biden and his advisors own the American bloodshed and lives lost. Shame.

Mark Huppertz

Zuzax