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by throwawaysea 1764 days ago
The Taliban has already entered the capital (https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-seize-jala...). This is an utter disaster for Biden and America. We should instead have performed a slower withdrawal and also continued to maintain a military presence permanently at Bagram field. Instead it appears China and Pakistan will welcome a new Taliban government and build new economic ties while America loses influence in the region. This withdrawal was so poorly handled that just two days ago the administration claimed Kabul would fall in 90 days when it seems it may fall today. Meanwhile the Taliban, who harbored 9/11 terrorists and is still allied with al Qaeda, is literally taking over American weapon stores that were left behind in this hasty evacuation (https://news.yahoo.com/weapon-seizures-massive-boon-taliban-...). What an utter and complete failure of leadership, military intelligence, foreign policy, and “nation building” (or rather lack thereof).

EDIT (in response to reply, since I got the dreaded rate limiting message): Trump didn’t initiate a departure. He set up a deal that included numerous conditions and phases contingent on commitments and actions from both the Taliban and Afghanistan government (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-sign-historic-deal-taliba...). But it really doesn’t matter. Biden is either the President or he isn’t. The withdrawal timeline he set and executed is his to own. Anything less than full ownership means he isn’t fit to be President.

3 comments

It would be shortsighted to try to pin this failure on your disfavored party. During 20 years of Afghanistan, 11 saw a Republican president and 9 saw a Democrat president. Not to mention other allies in the field, who contributed quite a lot to the peacekeeping effort.

Afghanistan isn't a modern country and cannot sustain a modern military or modern governance. Taliban is adapted to local conditions, Afghan govenrment isn't. But modern countries cannot help someone build a tribal fighting force best suited for the most remote mountains on the planet; people tend to replicate their own institutions wherever they go, because they are the only ones that we actually understand.

This is not a disaster for Bidden. I'm sorry to say it but it is really a victory for Bidden to limit the loss of lives.
As usual though the Democrats are the ones that wind up holding the bag and doing the necessary thing, so that they're the ones that will carry the blame as far as political simpletons go.
Remember that it was trump who initiated departure from afghanistan, and deals were signed.
It’s kind of a joke that this administration keeps blaming the Trump negotiations, as if the Taliban has kept their side of the agreement. They haven’t - the US has no obligation to either.
The deals mature in 20 or 30 years. Very sad bad days ahead for the locals now. Happy days once again for the globalist Prosperos at six degrees removed, eventually. Olympics 2064, Khabul? Was there a stratroot cause they could have tackled before the halfway mark over the last 20 years and realise the vision for victory, today?