One of the most egregious decisions made by President Biden was the unilateral and unconditional surrender to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Many attribute Biden’s decision — and his handling of the withdrawal — as a turning point in public perception of him and his presidency. Causal or coincidental, Biden’s favorable rating plummeted below 50 percent at the time – and has never exceeded it since.
In the three years since that fateful decision, memories of the facts of that event have faded and false narratives have arisen. Most notably, Biden and Democrats have laid the blame for the departure from Afghanistan on President Trump’s Doha Agreement with the Taliban – and the chaos on the military in executing the ordered withdrawal. Biden further claimed that the pro-American government in Kabul was strong enough – and sufficiently well equipped — to stave off Taliban efforts to overthrow the government.
On March 19, 2024, the issue of Afghanistan was again the subject of congressional hearings. Testifying were two men closely associated with carrying out Biden’s orders. They are General Mark Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Frank McKenzie, former head of the U.S. Central Command.
They were both unequivocal on several of the most relevant key points.
- The decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan – essentially surrendering in the war – was made exclusively by President Biden on his own authority as Commander-in-Chief of the armed services.
- The American military leadership strongly advised against a complete withdrawal – and recommended that 2500 soldiers remain in Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban from toppling the pro-American government in Kabul in violation of the Doha Agreement.
- That the government in Kabul was unlikely to retain power in the face of the Taliban fighting forces – contrary to Biden’s claims at the time. Although, they assumed it would take longer.
- That the Taliban had already broken virtually every provision of the Doha Agreement – a fact ignored by Biden when he made his decision. In other words, Biden placed no conditions on his surrender.
Of all the failed military involvements of the past 75 years – Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Syria and a few lesser battles – Afghanistan stands out as the most humiliating … the most damaging to United States’ reputation and security … and the most boneheaded military decision by an American President. That was made painfully obvious by the testimony of Milley and McKenzie.
Not only was the decision wrong, but it was a tactical and strategic disaster. Biden pushed the plan, claiming that the Afghan government was able to carry on the fight with the Taliban. The government in Kabul fell even before American troops — and America’s Afghan partners — were evacuated.
That meant that the United States had to rely on the Taliban for security during the evacuation. As a result, 13 American servicemen and women and 183 Afghan civilians were killed in a bombing at the airport, 11 more died in the panic to board planes and 10 more, including seven children, in a mistaken U.S. drone attack on a friendly civilian aid worker’s vehicle.
To deflect from his disastrous decision, Biden claimed he had no choice because President Trump had entered into that Doha Agreement with the Taliban to pull out American Troops. Trump’s was a bad decision, but one which Biden was not obligated legally or morally to follow.
Milley specifically testified that prior to Biden’s decision to surrender in Afghanistan, the Taliban had violated virtually every provision of the agreement. Despite the fact that Biden had total authority to reject Trump’s agreement – and the fact that the Taliban had violated it – Biden proceeded with HIS order to surrender to the Taliban anyway.
The withdrawal of American troops was complicated by the fact that the Biden State Department was slow to evacuate the thousands of Americans and the civilian Afghan friends who risked their and their families’ lives to help American troops – and who faced deadly retribution after the American military was gone. Many of these folks held American visas and were promised to be taken out of Afghanistan.
The State Department had also failed to establish bases in America and in foreign nations that would receive Afghan refugees – adding to the chaos and further inhibiting their removal. As a consequence, thousands of Afghan friends and American citizens were left behind. Many have since been hunted down and murdered by the Taliban.
The Biden legacy will long be remembered in those images of desperate men, women and children attempting to flee from Afghanistan – clinging to departing airplanes and putting their children in the arms of American servicemen. For months and years after, individuals and organizations have been attempting to do what the Biden administration failed to do – to get the American friends out.
Imagine that. Three years later and America’s friends are still there … still in peril … or dead.
In testifying before Congress in 2021 – shortly after the chaotic surrender, the Secretary of Defense said that the “circumstances” for the withdrawal of troops, American citizens and Afghan friends with visas were “anything but ideal.” And yet, with that knowledge, Biden proceeded, anyway.
As with the Biden surrender, itself, the pro-Biden press failed to adequately cover the salient portions of the generals’ recent testimony. They continue to spin their reporting according to Biden’s mendacious narratives – suggesting that the surrender in Afghanistan went as well as possible and that Biden was locked in by the Trump agreement. Those are lies.
Because the press does not report fully and accurately on the key points of the hearing, the best way to get the full story is to view the testimony of Generals Milley and McKenzie. For those interested, it can be found here on YouTube. It is compelling in explaining in detail why the decision to withdraw was wrong in every way — fundamentally and tragically flawed.
Biden’s personal decision to surrender in Afghanistan will forever be a blight on his legacy. According to most polls, the American people believe Biden’s decision to surrender in Afghanistan was a huge and tragic mistake based on personal motivations bordering on political malfeasance.
While the actual surrender in Afghanistan was three years ago, the chain of negative, dangerous and even deadly outcomes continues to this day.
So, there ‘tis.