Can it be a reflection of a divided American society being replicated in its politics and policies, that the USA, at the height of its economic and military power, has not won a war since WWII? Instead in every case, it has left behind chaos and anarchy. Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan have been either returned to their pre-war mayhem or have been left to fend for themselves. If America cannot tackle its own civil rights, race, social equity issues, how can it be expected to do so in foreign countries they most of the time do not even understand the culture? and more importantly how does it continue to believe that it can? Until it does take into account its own weaknesses and learn from its mistakes, the USA is bound to continue to repeat history over and over
"Afghanistan, graveyard of empires." This has been said of many, many others who thought they could wage war there or conquer this country. Hubris, is always at the heart of leaders who think history doesn't apply to them. The problem is; No one is ever held accountable for making terrible, preventable mistakes. GW should've been held accountable for being led into a war in Iraq by those who had hubristic tendencies. He should also have been asked why we were still in Afghanistan when we found out OSBL was not in ToraBora and he said himself nation building was not on his agenda? A true leader takes advice from those around him but doesn't acquiesce to their desires and tends to know a bit about potential consequences. Anyone with a grasp on history would've known we couldn't do anything lasting in this 7th Century country. The British bailed out, the Soviets bailed out, and now it's out turn. It's unfortunately just a fact that we learned nothing from Viet Nam. Finally, the armchair quarterbacks who have no military experience should STFU about this pull out. You don't have any idea behind the thought process of exiting this country that shouldn't have collapsed in 11 days from a military we spent years training. I feel for those (some who are my fellow Veterans) who served there and many who lost lives or had their lives forever changed by wounds seen and unseen. For the usual sacrifices that are not in your control we still have to say that a grateful nation thanks you.
What are we really doing? It's hard to see we are succeeding at anything but enriching defense contractors. A quick look at our experience in Viet Nam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, etc. show that not once has a democracy led by our choice of leaders been the result of our military involvement. We try to install leadership that will favor us, usually at the expense of the local population. There is always the smell of, or open corruption. In Afghanistan we supported an ineffective regime that never stood a chance of unifying the country. They couldn't control the whole country even with our help. The army was poorly administered with soldiers going unpaid as a common story. The Afghan army had no real motivation to fight. If you won the war the corrupt government would continue to exploit you. If you lost the Taliban would kill you. Why not surrender and join the Taliban? The men in Afghanistan know they are in a superior position to the women no matter who wins. Better to be on the winning side, which everyone knew would eventually be the Taliban. They are an ancient and strict patriarchal society, the men didn't want that to change. They sold out their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. US involvement wasn't going to change that. Not if we stayed 20 more years. Getting out was going to be messy at any time. Get out now is the best we can do. Now let's sit back and watch how the military industrial complex sells us a new war or needed new level of preparedness. You know it's coming.
Spot on Dan! Leaving is always painful. You really made a great point that we are actually in the middle of this war and it’s about time. The failure of a Republican experiment The New American Century has cost everyone in this country in so many ways. Exporting democracy and nation building is a hard task if the inhabitants of the chosen experiment aren’t all in or understood the task chosen for them by a super power and it’s industrial military complex. Our brave and capable boots on the ground trained 300,000 Afghanistan Troops that should have been able to hold off 75,000 Taliban, for more than a few days. I believe Biden made a difficult but necessary decision to get Americans out and if possible others if we have time. The Afghanistan people have to stay and fight no matter the horrible cost in human life . Sadly the events unfolding today were as you explained set in motion 20 years ago and possibly the people of Afghanistan can gain the willingness to join together and fight for what kinda of life they want for their own. Dan Rather I loved how you weaved a tapestry of historical timelines as examples of how right know may have been the perfect time . Possibly An Afghanistan Copper smith will Ride Tonight.
My goodness, Dan. When you get going writing you do not seem to know how to stick to a topic, but wander here and there until the reader gets lost.
Be that as it may, please do not water down or excuse Biden's massive, earthshaking, far-reaching, stupendous mistake in exiting from Afghanistan. I say this as a long-term Democrat who voted for Biden and all the Democrats I could vote for. Biden handed Trump and the Republican Party his head on a platter. It was one of the most idiotic and preventable mistakes in history.
George, you are horribly twisting events to highlight your own narrative. I can’t figure out why, if your professed political lean is what you say it is. But here are a couple salient facts:
- Trump, Pompeo and the Gang conspired to get out of Afghanistan in such a way that Trump could take credit, but not any blame if he lost the election. There is a reason the negotiated exit date was after the election and swearing in dates.
- in the negotiating, Trump agreed to close down Bagrahm AFB, release 5k Taliban pow’s and walk out of the country without letting the “democratic” Afghani take part in the discussion.
- Stephen Miller and his acolytes at the State department shut down the SIV program by stifling the process, eliminating review agent positions and setting Catch-22 rules in place such that almost zero visas were granted during 2019-2020.
- Ghani pressed both the Trump and the Biden administrations to NOT pull out US civilian and non-military staffs as it would “send the wrong message” to the populace.
- In the period of April 2020-May 2021, the Taliban negotiated surrender agreements with both military and civil commanders in return for amnesty and large bags of cash. All under the nose of Gahni’s government and US intelligence groups (who were reporting to the Trump Administration until January 2021).
There is more to the story, but the gist is this: Trump denied any form of turnover to the Biden administration during the transition period with multiple goals: cripple the American government, spread the big lie, and ensure Biden would be blamed for the coming debacle in Afghanistan. Thanks to narrow points of view in the media and the voting base, he is being successful.
Mickey, you are some sort of god. You know people's minds and motives just from reading a few lines of text. What supernatural power you have! :-)
Don't you see that your thinking about staying "true blue" no matter what is fallacious? If we can't criticize wrong where wrong is, then we cannot compete against the likes of Trump and his Trumpsters, and all Republicans.
All your points are mute.
It doesn't MATTER what Trump did, or Nazi Miller did, or what Ghani did. Biden is PRESIDENT - COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. He had plenty of time to properly plan the draw-down and a graceful, secure exit for everyone. Biden controls things; he is the "decision-maker" in the final analysis.
He blew it, and I am pissed at him and his incompetent team. Damn, it could not be much worse. He literally gave the midterms to the Republicans and perhaps even the 2024 Presidency to them.
I hope we can recover to prevent that from happening.
As I suspected - any time a zealot is presented with evidence contrary to their beliefs, out come the personal attacks. I stand behind my comments and my evidence (which is not moot). I also stand by my statement; you’re creating a narrative for your own narrow personal pique.
Now I will exercise my god-like powers and observe that in my life experience, people like you who call other people names like "zealot" or try to second-guess their motives, are really projecting what and who they themselves are.
I guess I’m all done with you George - your self proclaimed powers are simply too much for this old veteran. But read this little opinion piece I came across. The last paragraph pretty well sums up your stated position, but everything before it sums up mine.
I scanned the piece and got a gist of it. Mickey, we are addressing two different issues. One is leave Afghanistan or stay in Afghanistan. Most people do not argue this point, nor do I. The best thing to do is to leave.
The issue I address is how we left. The planning was horrible to be kind. I won't rehash that. It will be an on-going tragedy that could have been and should have been avoided. Enough said.
No, it was "NOT" always going to be "MESSY". Messy? You call what is going on "messy"? Should 10 U.S. troops be killed by the Taliban, would that be "messy." No, what is going on is atrocious and could have EASILY been prevented with some common sense advanced planning .
Keep the U.S. troops there until all Afghans that should get out are out. Then, draw-down the troops and make provision for destroying our military equipment should the Afghan forces not stand up to the Taliban, which was predicted by many U.S. military people for months.
Wrong Wendy. The argument about "leaving or staying" is a "red herring" -- a diversionary wrong argument. I am not contesting that. I do have moral issue about invading a country and staying there for 20 years, thus making people dependent upon the United States, and then leaving them in the lurch. But, that is a separate isue.
The issue is the horribly botched exit that has unnecessarily cost people their lives who helped the U.S. in our time of need, and many more will be lost and freedom to live virtually stolen from them by the fanatical Taliban.
I don't like criticizing my country or my party, but when I see wrong, I will definitely speak up.
Let's start and end with Bush 43's terrible mistake. Not to mention Johnson/Nixon's huge bunder in Viet Nam. We lost thousands of brave and dear American souls. Let's not forget WW2 and the "Greatest Generation" that fought to defeat Hitler and Hirohito. Biden made the right decision. But he had no exit plan. Just like Saigon. He should have known better!
Afghanistan morphed from an anti-terrorist operation to a US base to get lithium and poppies under a Public pretext of “nation building in US image.” Those who don’t know Afghanistan as a lot of ancient tribalism bought the story of US propaganda. Especially the story about education, freedom and governmental participation for women. What was not focused on was the looting at the top, and how the US was buying military services which would last until the money stopped flowing. When the soldiers weren’t paid nor fed nor given bullets nor air cover, they left quickly. While leaving, they made the US looking Inept, foolish, and pathetic. Which we are because mass media feeds to world press junk reporting.
I’ve been pondering this….this thing that was always most likely going to end with the lack of results that these 20 years did. From the moment we went in it was called out….the British in colonial days, the Soviets. How were we going to be different.
We went in with a very tactical purpose, then got caught in strategic initiatives that were going to be near impossible to complete at best.
We threw a limited war at the Taliban for two decades, and they have not been weakened at all. There is no easy fix for this part of the world.
This failure is only compounded by what is looking like a withdrawal of moronic proportions. We trained so many Afghan troops and equipped them and they immediately handed it over.
My heart breaks for those that will be caught in this and persecuted, whether it’s those that supported American interests, or women in general. I just don’t see how one fixes it.
Why did we not go into Afghanistan 20 years ago with say 75K troops and focus SOLELY on killing Al Queada and Osama bin Laden? Why did we start a war with the Taliban who did not attack us on 911; and who do not have international ambitions? If we did that; if we were OUT OF THERE in three years at the max, then I believe USA would have been safe and thousands of lives spared and trillions of dollars saved. THERE WAS NO REAL JUSTIFICATION to start a war with the Taliban!! George W Bush used POOR JUDGEMENT!? I do not think that ONE MAN should have that kind of decision making power!! Congress controls the money; but they always say <yes> to a request to go to war because the military generals are urging us to do it! We have got to be smarter!! War should be the LAST TOOL that comes out of the toolbox. And---we should not start unilateral wars with people who did not attack us!! Because of political decisions we are acting stupid! America MUST DO BETTER!!!
The mistake was going there. The bigger mistake was staying for so long. The American people gained nothing and paid in troops and taxes to corporate profits over the conflict. The Afghanis could not muster the will of a western nation to create a whole and safe government, and it is no surprise that they could not. Cultures are very hard to change. Yet another failed venture in democratic nation building.
Good commentary! Yes, I think what is happening now would have happened with any president who ended the war. One can look at Iraq, the end of the Civil War in the US, and other wars to see this (Viet Nam comes to mind). Once a vacuum of power is left, someone fills it. That someone can either chose to make life better or worse. Like you mentioned above, we turned away from Afghanistan the minute we decided to go to war in Iraq. So much for nation building! Have we learned our lesson yet? I am glad Biden took our troops out of Afghanistan. It needed to be done long ago.
Three things (1) It was a bad decision to go into Afghanistan to begin with; (2) There was absolutely no strategic planning involved throughout our time there; (3) It was a misogynistic/war lord culture that has no concept of democracy and is fundamentally corrupt. How did the "Powers That Be" not recognize the futility?
It was incompetence that brought us to Afghanistan in the first place. Please, tell us how it was a good idea to support a corrupt foreign government for twenty years. Afghan government officials lived in opulent homes while their people lived with very little. The Taliban told us it didn’t matter how long we stayed, they would wait out the occupation. Why wasn’t anyone listening? How do you force a religious patriarchy to conform to democracy? What we did was apply a bandaid that someone was going to have to rip off. Biden didn’t see the point in waiting any longer.
You want to talk about incompetence? Let’s talk about Donald Trump who claimed COVID-19 was a ‘democrat hoax.’ How many Americans died because his administration did nothing? There wasn’t even a plan in place to distribute the vaccine in place when that clown left office. Let’s talk about the dictators that Donald Trump publicly admired. Let’s talk about the fact that Donald Trump released all of those connected to Taliban from Guantanamo.
Hmmmm. Let's get started. That "Clown" made that vaccine happen while your two idiots told people it wasn't safe and they wouldn't take a vaccine that Trump created. NOW they wonder why people won't take it.That clown saved millions of lives across the world because he was a LEADER.
We were not in Afganistan to build a democracy, we were there to protect America, so another 9/11 didn't happen. Feel safe now? You shouldn't.
Biden is the worst President in our history. We will never be the same after his latest unbelieveably bad decision. I used to think he was diminished. Now? I think he is dumb. Even your hero Obama calls him stupid.
That Clown, Donald Trump did nothing but create a monster. His own crowd recently booed recently at one of his silly rallies in Alabama when he suggested that they be vaccinated. Why did he call COVID-19 a 'democrat hoax'. If he is responsible for the vaccine being developed, why would he do NOTHING to distribute the vaccine? Hmmm...
You are correct about one thing. Our occupation in Afghanistan had nothing to do with building a democracy. Exactly how long were we supposed to stay there continuing to pump money (your precious tax dollars) into a corrupt government?
Biden did the right thing. It was never going to come out smelling like roses. How could it? The Taliban warned us, "Your men may have watches, but we have the time."
So, you think Biden got the vaccine created.?? Since you don't care about women burning alive and raped little girls, please turn in your feminist badge. We don't want you
A company In Germany created the Vaccine,Pfizer only got involved for Mass distribution.I’m always surprised how little people know.Trump had nothing to do with it since Pfizer rejected the money.
No Betsy, the scientists got this vaccine created. Trump did all he could to dismiss it's existence and prove he could be a macho man with no mask even though he had it. I'm not smart enough to analyze Afghanistan's issues, I hope there are those amongst you who can help and teach others how to help. I feel empathy for what is left, especially for the woman. I do know that the people who are hesitant to take the vaccine appear to be Trump supporters. I can say this with confidence, Trump was no leader.
I did not say any of those things. You hate that you can't find a way to logically defend Donald Trump, so you choose to say ridiculous things. I'm done trying to have a conversation with a brick wall. Good luck to you.
Thank you: sober & to the point
Keeping on with LOVE & Health
Can it be a reflection of a divided American society being replicated in its politics and policies, that the USA, at the height of its economic and military power, has not won a war since WWII? Instead in every case, it has left behind chaos and anarchy. Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan have been either returned to their pre-war mayhem or have been left to fend for themselves. If America cannot tackle its own civil rights, race, social equity issues, how can it be expected to do so in foreign countries they most of the time do not even understand the culture? and more importantly how does it continue to believe that it can? Until it does take into account its own weaknesses and learn from its mistakes, the USA is bound to continue to repeat history over and over
While I agree with many of your stated opinions and historic facts I differ with the following.
1) I am a supporter of Biden as a healer his administration has executed a very poor and unacceptable withdrawal from Afghanistan.
2) Today's technology's enabling unrestricted opinion sharing is causing Americans to become more devided.
The media looks for and sensationalizes most news for ratings and only negative events. There are many motivators for executing news as presented.
3) Those owning and controling what and how news is presented to viewers, the American and global public, as pupits under their control.
Thank you, Mr. Rather. I appreciate your sharing your sense of history and balance over the long term. It helps.
"Afghanistan, graveyard of empires." This has been said of many, many others who thought they could wage war there or conquer this country. Hubris, is always at the heart of leaders who think history doesn't apply to them. The problem is; No one is ever held accountable for making terrible, preventable mistakes. GW should've been held accountable for being led into a war in Iraq by those who had hubristic tendencies. He should also have been asked why we were still in Afghanistan when we found out OSBL was not in ToraBora and he said himself nation building was not on his agenda? A true leader takes advice from those around him but doesn't acquiesce to their desires and tends to know a bit about potential consequences. Anyone with a grasp on history would've known we couldn't do anything lasting in this 7th Century country. The British bailed out, the Soviets bailed out, and now it's out turn. It's unfortunately just a fact that we learned nothing from Viet Nam. Finally, the armchair quarterbacks who have no military experience should STFU about this pull out. You don't have any idea behind the thought process of exiting this country that shouldn't have collapsed in 11 days from a military we spent years training. I feel for those (some who are my fellow Veterans) who served there and many who lost lives or had their lives forever changed by wounds seen and unseen. For the usual sacrifices that are not in your control we still have to say that a grateful nation thanks you.
What are we really doing? It's hard to see we are succeeding at anything but enriching defense contractors. A quick look at our experience in Viet Nam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, etc. show that not once has a democracy led by our choice of leaders been the result of our military involvement. We try to install leadership that will favor us, usually at the expense of the local population. There is always the smell of, or open corruption. In Afghanistan we supported an ineffective regime that never stood a chance of unifying the country. They couldn't control the whole country even with our help. The army was poorly administered with soldiers going unpaid as a common story. The Afghan army had no real motivation to fight. If you won the war the corrupt government would continue to exploit you. If you lost the Taliban would kill you. Why not surrender and join the Taliban? The men in Afghanistan know they are in a superior position to the women no matter who wins. Better to be on the winning side, which everyone knew would eventually be the Taliban. They are an ancient and strict patriarchal society, the men didn't want that to change. They sold out their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. US involvement wasn't going to change that. Not if we stayed 20 more years. Getting out was going to be messy at any time. Get out now is the best we can do. Now let's sit back and watch how the military industrial complex sells us a new war or needed new level of preparedness. You know it's coming.
Spot on Dan! Leaving is always painful. You really made a great point that we are actually in the middle of this war and it’s about time. The failure of a Republican experiment The New American Century has cost everyone in this country in so many ways. Exporting democracy and nation building is a hard task if the inhabitants of the chosen experiment aren’t all in or understood the task chosen for them by a super power and it’s industrial military complex. Our brave and capable boots on the ground trained 300,000 Afghanistan Troops that should have been able to hold off 75,000 Taliban, for more than a few days. I believe Biden made a difficult but necessary decision to get Americans out and if possible others if we have time. The Afghanistan people have to stay and fight no matter the horrible cost in human life . Sadly the events unfolding today were as you explained set in motion 20 years ago and possibly the people of Afghanistan can gain the willingness to join together and fight for what kinda of life they want for their own. Dan Rather I loved how you weaved a tapestry of historical timelines as examples of how right know may have been the perfect time . Possibly An Afghanistan Copper smith will Ride Tonight.
My goodness, Dan. When you get going writing you do not seem to know how to stick to a topic, but wander here and there until the reader gets lost.
Be that as it may, please do not water down or excuse Biden's massive, earthshaking, far-reaching, stupendous mistake in exiting from Afghanistan. I say this as a long-term Democrat who voted for Biden and all the Democrats I could vote for. Biden handed Trump and the Republican Party his head on a platter. It was one of the most idiotic and preventable mistakes in history.
George, you are horribly twisting events to highlight your own narrative. I can’t figure out why, if your professed political lean is what you say it is. But here are a couple salient facts:
- Trump, Pompeo and the Gang conspired to get out of Afghanistan in such a way that Trump could take credit, but not any blame if he lost the election. There is a reason the negotiated exit date was after the election and swearing in dates.
- in the negotiating, Trump agreed to close down Bagrahm AFB, release 5k Taliban pow’s and walk out of the country without letting the “democratic” Afghani take part in the discussion.
- Stephen Miller and his acolytes at the State department shut down the SIV program by stifling the process, eliminating review agent positions and setting Catch-22 rules in place such that almost zero visas were granted during 2019-2020.
- Ghani pressed both the Trump and the Biden administrations to NOT pull out US civilian and non-military staffs as it would “send the wrong message” to the populace.
- In the period of April 2020-May 2021, the Taliban negotiated surrender agreements with both military and civil commanders in return for amnesty and large bags of cash. All under the nose of Gahni’s government and US intelligence groups (who were reporting to the Trump Administration until January 2021).
There is more to the story, but the gist is this: Trump denied any form of turnover to the Biden administration during the transition period with multiple goals: cripple the American government, spread the big lie, and ensure Biden would be blamed for the coming debacle in Afghanistan. Thanks to narrow points of view in the media and the voting base, he is being successful.
Mickey, you are some sort of god. You know people's minds and motives just from reading a few lines of text. What supernatural power you have! :-)
Don't you see that your thinking about staying "true blue" no matter what is fallacious? If we can't criticize wrong where wrong is, then we cannot compete against the likes of Trump and his Trumpsters, and all Republicans.
All your points are mute.
It doesn't MATTER what Trump did, or Nazi Miller did, or what Ghani did. Biden is PRESIDENT - COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. He had plenty of time to properly plan the draw-down and a graceful, secure exit for everyone. Biden controls things; he is the "decision-maker" in the final analysis.
He blew it, and I am pissed at him and his incompetent team. Damn, it could not be much worse. He literally gave the midterms to the Republicans and perhaps even the 2024 Presidency to them.
I hope we can recover to prevent that from happening.
George,
As I suspected - any time a zealot is presented with evidence contrary to their beliefs, out come the personal attacks. I stand behind my comments and my evidence (which is not moot). I also stand by my statement; you’re creating a narrative for your own narrow personal pique.
Now I will exercise my god-like powers and observe that in my life experience, people like you who call other people names like "zealot" or try to second-guess their motives, are really projecting what and who they themselves are.
Now, Mickey, your god-like powers identifies me as a "zealot". Yes, I am a zealot for truth, not excuses, and that is what your are offering.
I guess I’m all done with you George - your self proclaimed powers are simply too much for this old veteran. But read this little opinion piece I came across. The last paragraph pretty well sums up your stated position, but everything before it sums up mine.
I scanned the piece and got a gist of it. Mickey, we are addressing two different issues. One is leave Afghanistan or stay in Afghanistan. Most people do not argue this point, nor do I. The best thing to do is to leave.
The issue I address is how we left. The planning was horrible to be kind. I won't rehash that. It will be an on-going tragedy that could have been and should have been avoided. Enough said.
https://weeklysift.com/2021/08/23/afghanistan-biden-and-the-media/
Sorry but you're wrong. It was time to end it and it was always going to be messy, that's why no other president tried it.
I agree Wendy. Was it perfect? No. Could it have been better? Also No. My husband served 25 years in the Army, and he agrees too.
No, it was "NOT" always going to be "MESSY". Messy? You call what is going on "messy"? Should 10 U.S. troops be killed by the Taliban, would that be "messy." No, what is going on is atrocious and could have EASILY been prevented with some common sense advanced planning .
Keep the U.S. troops there until all Afghans that should get out are out. Then, draw-down the troops and make provision for destroying our military equipment should the Afghan forces not stand up to the Taliban, which was predicted by many U.S. military people for months.
Wrong Wendy. The argument about "leaving or staying" is a "red herring" -- a diversionary wrong argument. I am not contesting that. I do have moral issue about invading a country and staying there for 20 years, thus making people dependent upon the United States, and then leaving them in the lurch. But, that is a separate isue.
The issue is the horribly botched exit that has unnecessarily cost people their lives who helped the U.S. in our time of need, and many more will be lost and freedom to live virtually stolen from them by the fanatical Taliban.
I don't like criticizing my country or my party, but when I see wrong, I will definitely speak up.
Yes!
Let's start and end with Bush 43's terrible mistake. Not to mention Johnson/Nixon's huge bunder in Viet Nam. We lost thousands of brave and dear American souls. Let's not forget WW2 and the "Greatest Generation" that fought to defeat Hitler and Hirohito. Biden made the right decision. But he had no exit plan. Just like Saigon. He should have known better!
Afghanistan morphed from an anti-terrorist operation to a US base to get lithium and poppies under a Public pretext of “nation building in US image.” Those who don’t know Afghanistan as a lot of ancient tribalism bought the story of US propaganda. Especially the story about education, freedom and governmental participation for women. What was not focused on was the looting at the top, and how the US was buying military services which would last until the money stopped flowing. When the soldiers weren’t paid nor fed nor given bullets nor air cover, they left quickly. While leaving, they made the US looking Inept, foolish, and pathetic. Which we are because mass media feeds to world press junk reporting.
I’ve been pondering this….this thing that was always most likely going to end with the lack of results that these 20 years did. From the moment we went in it was called out….the British in colonial days, the Soviets. How were we going to be different.
We went in with a very tactical purpose, then got caught in strategic initiatives that were going to be near impossible to complete at best.
We threw a limited war at the Taliban for two decades, and they have not been weakened at all. There is no easy fix for this part of the world.
This failure is only compounded by what is looking like a withdrawal of moronic proportions. We trained so many Afghan troops and equipped them and they immediately handed it over.
My heart breaks for those that will be caught in this and persecuted, whether it’s those that supported American interests, or women in general. I just don’t see how one fixes it.
Why did we not go into Afghanistan 20 years ago with say 75K troops and focus SOLELY on killing Al Queada and Osama bin Laden? Why did we start a war with the Taliban who did not attack us on 911; and who do not have international ambitions? If we did that; if we were OUT OF THERE in three years at the max, then I believe USA would have been safe and thousands of lives spared and trillions of dollars saved. THERE WAS NO REAL JUSTIFICATION to start a war with the Taliban!! George W Bush used POOR JUDGEMENT!? I do not think that ONE MAN should have that kind of decision making power!! Congress controls the money; but they always say <yes> to a request to go to war because the military generals are urging us to do it! We have got to be smarter!! War should be the LAST TOOL that comes out of the toolbox. And---we should not start unilateral wars with people who did not attack us!! Because of political decisions we are acting stupid! America MUST DO BETTER!!!
The mistake was going there. The bigger mistake was staying for so long. The American people gained nothing and paid in troops and taxes to corporate profits over the conflict. The Afghanis could not muster the will of a western nation to create a whole and safe government, and it is no surprise that they could not. Cultures are very hard to change. Yet another failed venture in democratic nation building.
Good commentary! Yes, I think what is happening now would have happened with any president who ended the war. One can look at Iraq, the end of the Civil War in the US, and other wars to see this (Viet Nam comes to mind). Once a vacuum of power is left, someone fills it. That someone can either chose to make life better or worse. Like you mentioned above, we turned away from Afghanistan the minute we decided to go to war in Iraq. So much for nation building! Have we learned our lesson yet? I am glad Biden took our troops out of Afghanistan. It needed to be done long ago.
Three things (1) It was a bad decision to go into Afghanistan to begin with; (2) There was absolutely no strategic planning involved throughout our time there; (3) It was a misogynistic/war lord culture that has no concept of democracy and is fundamentally corrupt. How did the "Powers That Be" not recognize the futility?
I am happy to share my comments. You cannot save Biden. He is incompetent and dangerous to this country.
It was incompetence that brought us to Afghanistan in the first place. Please, tell us how it was a good idea to support a corrupt foreign government for twenty years. Afghan government officials lived in opulent homes while their people lived with very little. The Taliban told us it didn’t matter how long we stayed, they would wait out the occupation. Why wasn’t anyone listening? How do you force a religious patriarchy to conform to democracy? What we did was apply a bandaid that someone was going to have to rip off. Biden didn’t see the point in waiting any longer.
You want to talk about incompetence? Let’s talk about Donald Trump who claimed COVID-19 was a ‘democrat hoax.’ How many Americans died because his administration did nothing? There wasn’t even a plan in place to distribute the vaccine in place when that clown left office. Let’s talk about the dictators that Donald Trump publicly admired. Let’s talk about the fact that Donald Trump released all of those connected to Taliban from Guantanamo.
Hmmmm. Let's get started. That "Clown" made that vaccine happen while your two idiots told people it wasn't safe and they wouldn't take a vaccine that Trump created. NOW they wonder why people won't take it.That clown saved millions of lives across the world because he was a LEADER.
We were not in Afganistan to build a democracy, we were there to protect America, so another 9/11 didn't happen. Feel safe now? You shouldn't.
Biden is the worst President in our history. We will never be the same after his latest unbelieveably bad decision. I used to think he was diminished. Now? I think he is dumb. Even your hero Obama calls him stupid.
LMAO
https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-check-joe-biden-donald-trump-politics-coronavirus-pandemic-76d1580f82b1586b207990396c1e3b5f
That Clown, Donald Trump did nothing but create a monster. His own crowd recently booed recently at one of his silly rallies in Alabama when he suggested that they be vaccinated. Why did he call COVID-19 a 'democrat hoax'. If he is responsible for the vaccine being developed, why would he do NOTHING to distribute the vaccine? Hmmm...
You are correct about one thing. Our occupation in Afghanistan had nothing to do with building a democracy. Exactly how long were we supposed to stay there continuing to pump money (your precious tax dollars) into a corrupt government?
Biden did the right thing. It was never going to come out smelling like roses. How could it? The Taliban warned us, "Your men may have watches, but we have the time."
So, you think Biden got the vaccine created.?? Since you don't care about women burning alive and raped little girls, please turn in your feminist badge. We don't want you
A company In Germany created the Vaccine,Pfizer only got involved for Mass distribution.I’m always surprised how little people know.Trump had nothing to do with it since Pfizer rejected the money.
No Betsy, the scientists got this vaccine created. Trump did all he could to dismiss it's existence and prove he could be a macho man with no mask even though he had it. I'm not smart enough to analyze Afghanistan's issues, I hope there are those amongst you who can help and teach others how to help. I feel empathy for what is left, especially for the woman. I do know that the people who are hesitant to take the vaccine appear to be Trump supporters. I can say this with confidence, Trump was no leader.
LMAO
You don't care about women and little girls either you (southern) wall builder.
I did not say any of those things. You hate that you can't find a way to logically defend Donald Trump, so you choose to say ridiculous things. I'm done trying to have a conversation with a brick wall. Good luck to you.
That's what I thought. Facts always beat out the crazy left