The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!
H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926
Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban, and the horrors of that fact have yet to begin. The loss of Afghanistan will have long ranging ripple effects for the world, and for decades to come.
The entry into the 20 year war was a direct result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There were voices at the time who encouraged President Bush to, as the saying went, bomb them back into the stone age, wish them a good day, and then leave. The sentiment of we broke it, we own it, won out.
History will judge the decisions made, but at this moment in time there is so much false and fraudulent information spewing forth from the stenographic media that it is necessary to mark these events with facts.
In no real particular order:
President Biden and his administration are directly responsible for the current state of events. President’s of both political parties share ownership of this cataclysm. Biden announced his intention to withdraw troops on a date certain with absolutely no need to do so, and with no coherent plan to do so. Administration flacks have already attempted to lay blame at the feet of President Donald Trump. This is idiotic on the face of it. President Trump did indeed make the decision to end our longest war. What the spokespeople seem to forget is that Trump had an actual plan. To do it a great injustice in summing it up this way, but in short Trump told the Taliban leaders if they did not honor their agreements, they would have a very bad day. Trump had already taken out al-Qaida leadership, so they knew not to cross him. Biden made no such statements. Rather, he was quoted as saying that the Taliban would not overtake the country. That was a month ago.
Whoops.
There seems to be a wild case of amnesia by the pundits, as they keep making comparisons to Vietnam and the fall of Saigon.
This is a very minority opinion, but the military did not lose the Vietnam War.
The politicians of the time did, by injecting their ignorance into the situation. They cut funding, and made the entire exit a political game. Again, the military did not lose the Vietnam War.
In much the same way, our military did not lose Afghanistan. Biden and the political left did. That is not partisan, that is fact.
To quote what is attributed to Casey Stengel – “you could look it up”.
In the same way Vietnam has been erroneously labelled as a ‘loss’, so it is with Afghanistan. Americans gave their lives, spent hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and the overriding theme of the political class is that this is another loss for the American military.
There must be questions asked and answered for what has happened in Afghanistan, but the focus must not be on the military rank and file. It may be shown that leadership made avoidable errors, but let them stand on their own.
When the question of what was it all for is asked, the answer is simple.
For the first time in recorded history, the Afghan people knew what it was to experience freedom. Women and girls were educated. Many became successful pursuing their dreams.
That is something special, unique, and to be honored.
To quote another American of note: "The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1809.
The men and women of the American armed forces were doing the work of a free people. That fact must not, cannot, be lost in a haze of political acrimony.
There is one direction to follow in pursuit of culpability for the Afghanistan disaster. That direction ends at President Joe Biden.
There will be dark days ahead, as terror organizations will find safe haven in the rubble of Afghanistan. There are processes to follow as we search for answers, but as Americans, we must stand solidly together as a people, in support of the Afghanis, people terrorized by their governments around the world, to be the hallmark of democracy.
To show the world that a government of the people, for the people, and by the people will never perish from the face of the earth.
We are Americans.
That fact carries with it great pride and great responsibility.
Never forget that.
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