This isn’t really about Afghanistan. This is about the weakness, apathy and incompetence of the Biden Administration.
We left Afghanistan with our tail between our legs, scrambling to meet an artificial schedule set by the Biden Administration. It was quite probably the most embarrassing moment in American history. It sent the message that no ally could depend on America to keep its word. That any support given could be stripped away at a whim, despite promises made.
We left behind $8 Billion in weapons and military equipment.
Frequent contributor George McMillan comments that it is no wonder that India is upset with us. We armed the Taliban in the 1980s and then left adding to the instability of their northern regions. Then we armed them again. By negligence this time.
But we left some even more important in Afghanistan.
Americans.
Over 800 Americans have left Afghanistan since August of 2021. Biden had promised the last soldier would not leave until all Americans were out. But he lied. Guess he had to make the schedule.
The Americans got out by the grace of the Taliban. Imagine that, we depended on people we considered terrorists to safeguard our citizens. We are lucky that any of them survived. I wonder what backroom deals were made? I’m sure they didn’t do this out of the goodness of their hearts.
The government that we maintained (very expensively) for 20 years collapsed pretty much the same day we left. Without our support, no one had the heart to fight.
In case you are wondering, Trump actually had a plan. He was getting out, but there was no fixed timetable, and he intended to maintain the status quo, with the Taliban agreeing to stay out of Kabul. There was a substantial chance that negotiations could have maintained rights as they had been in Kabul. In other words, girls would still have been able to go to school. This was not certain by any means, but it wasn’t out of the question.
Instead, we lost all goodwill, all leverage in Afghanistan, a great deal of international reputation, and worst of all, we allowed some good people to die, and others to be enslaved within strict and barbaric sharia law.
Oh, yes, our adversaries are taking advantage. Did you know Afghanistan is sitting on the largest lithium deposits in the world? Valued at over $1 Trillion. And guess who is taking advantage of the power vacuum that we left? Yes, there are Chinese geologists on the ground there right now, only one year after we left.
How deep does the incompetence go? If, as I have speculated in the past, Joe Biden were under control of the Chinese, could he have made worse choices for America? Or better choices for our adversaries?