Thoughts on Afghanistan, August 29, 2021 – Comments
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4 comments to Afghanistan Thoughts, August 29, 2021Comment |
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Steve:
Your words are perfect.
I am glad we are finally leaving Afganistan.
Send the connection info. ALEX
General Milley has explained that they could not have foreseen Karzai and the entire Afghan Army folding which is why they allowed them to control Bagram Airbase and the billions of armaments that we had stored there. Even a liberal arts major can tell you that you always plan for every contingency.
So where was Biden? Delaware, Camp David, anywhere but the Oval Office.
Where was Blinken? The Hamptons, of course.
Where was Harris? Singapore?
Where was Milley? Probably writing his next anti-American speech.
Where was Lloyd Austin? Searching the ranks for “extreme loyalists?”
Where was the CIA? Still looking for evidence to blame Trump?
We can probably agree that we overstayed our time and it was time to leave. But leaving Americans behind, leaving with our tails between our legs, leaving without an embassy in place, is not the American way. We are still the greatest country on earth, without peer. We can withstand athletes disrespecting our flag, we can withstand wokeness, and we can withstand many other insults but we cannot and must not withstand failed, incompetent leadership. This stain is indelible and will last a long time, possibly forever.
The mass media, the Washington bureaucracy, the DNC, and most of academia will continue trying to polish this t..d. But if it looks like one, smells like one; it probably is one.
Having just read the responses to Steve Buck’s Yale62.org piece on Afghanistan, I find myself impressed – as usual – by Steve Buck’s deep knowledge of the subject, but also by the passion and patriotism of these classmate responders.
As I followed the exit story in the media, the writing that resonated most with me was a September 1 OpEd piece by NYT columnist Ross Douthat (who is not one of my regular favorites, but I thought on the money this time). I include the link below so that classmates who might not have seen it can read if interested.
Douthat argued we should not think the blunders of the final days were the worst of our failings – that they were preceded by 20 years of failed leadership in which elected officials of both parties, generals, media, defense industry lobbyists, and some in the “foreign policy establishment” all contributed, leaving us the mess that Biden inherited. I agree with Douthhat that for many of these co-authors of the story (and their fans) to now rage against the Biden administration for trying to manage the final stage of an exit which the Trump Administration committed to some 16 months earlier, misses much bigger problems with our conduct of foreign policy and a wider circle of incompetence.
Link to Douthat OpEd (requires NYT subscription).
In ref to above LINK to my comment, I linked with one click to the Ross Douthat OpEd without having to go thru NYT subscription ID (although I have the subscription). So maybe no subscription is required for others and the piece, although not fun, is worth a read.