Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal plan
- Thread starter AgnosticBoy
- Start date
I've listened to multiple perspectives, ranging from Democrat leaning to Republican leaning sources, on Biden's military withdrawal plan.
I have to say that president Biden has made some big mistakes. I agree with him when it comes to the need to get America out of nation building, but he bares the sole responsibility when it comes to HOW we exited out of Afghanistan. I feel that he's behind the ball and not being proactive enough. Here are three reasons why I believe he screwed up and what led to miscalculations in his plan (either that or he just didn't care and was desperate to just pull out of there).
1. The Biden administration should've known that it was likely that the Taliban would take over, quickly even.
If we knew that there was corruption in the Afghan government and military, then why should we expect them to defend themselves? Here's one report from AP:
In fact, even before the US military completely left Afghanistan in July and perhaps even into August, the Taliban had already taken over much of Afghanistan. Here's one report from CNN:
These two factors alone should've been more than enough of a warning sign that Afghan would fall to the Taliban since it was already being taken over even with a small American presence there.
2. Biden should know not to rely on the Taliban to get Americans and our Afghan allies out. Instead he should rely on Americans and allied countries do the job themselves.
Biden said he trusted the Taliban to allow Afghans and Americans to safely travel to the Kabul airport. This is very naive considering the fact that the Taliban are terrorists themselves. There are reports of them harassing and beating our allies. There's even reports of them going door-to-door looking for US allies. Furthermore, there are reports that they released prisoners from jail, some of which include terrorists, and of course those terrorists will likely be willing to strike us. President Biden said that he has to work with the Taliban since they are now in control of the country. I have to disagree. Other countries conducted rescue missions outside of Kabul airport, so why couldn't the US do the same? Why can't we send more troops in just to accelerate the process of getting more Americans out. Instead of telling them to tread a dangerous path to the airport, we can set up other check points to go pick them up.
Sources:
1. "Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that “thousands” of prisoners affiliated with ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorosan Province) — the terrorist group responsible for yesterday’s attacks at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul — had been freed from Afghan prisons in recent months as the United States moved forward with a military withdrawal."
Taken from: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/pentagon-thousands-isis-k-combatants-174349103.html
2. "What has been a cause for concern is that some of the prisoners who were released are top-level Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS leaders."
3. Another big mistake is having only ONE place of entry for Americans and allies to escape to and to have the terrorists know about it.
Having only one place for people to flee the country and then to have them sitting outside the airport, in mass numbers, being protected by a terrorist group like the Taliban is very naive. These people are sitting ducks.
Conclusion:
I don't trust the picture that the American government has been trying to paint. They would have you believe that the exit plan was calculated, every contingency planned for. Instead i see it as a rushed and botched job. It's a complete mess. This only reinforces my overall view of Democrats being naive and weak on security, although they are good at other things.
I have to say that president Biden has made some big mistakes. I agree with him when it comes to the need to get America out of nation building, but he bares the sole responsibility when it comes to HOW we exited out of Afghanistan. I feel that he's behind the ball and not being proactive enough. Here are three reasons why I believe he screwed up and what led to miscalculations in his plan (either that or he just didn't care and was desperate to just pull out of there).
1. The Biden administration should've known that it was likely that the Taliban would take over, quickly even.
If we knew that there was corruption in the Afghan government and military, then why should we expect them to defend themselves? Here's one report from AP:
Is this the type of army that Biden expected to put up a fight? The clear answer is NO. The results speak for themselves. The Taliban were able to take over quickly and several places fell "without a fight".
In fact, even before the US military completely left Afghanistan in July and perhaps even into August, the Taliban had already taken over much of Afghanistan. Here's one report from CNN:
These two factors alone should've been more than enough of a warning sign that Afghan would fall to the Taliban since it was already being taken over even with a small American presence there.
2. Biden should know not to rely on the Taliban to get Americans and our Afghan allies out. Instead he should rely on Americans and allied countries do the job themselves.
Biden said he trusted the Taliban to allow Afghans and Americans to safely travel to the Kabul airport. This is very naive considering the fact that the Taliban are terrorists themselves. There are reports of them harassing and beating our allies. There's even reports of them going door-to-door looking for US allies. Furthermore, there are reports that they released prisoners from jail, some of which include terrorists, and of course those terrorists will likely be willing to strike us. President Biden said that he has to work with the Taliban since they are now in control of the country. I have to disagree. Other countries conducted rescue missions outside of Kabul airport, so why couldn't the US do the same? Why can't we send more troops in just to accelerate the process of getting more Americans out. Instead of telling them to tread a dangerous path to the airport, we can set up other check points to go pick them up.
Sources:
1. "Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that “thousands” of prisoners affiliated with ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorosan Province) — the terrorist group responsible for yesterday’s attacks at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul — had been freed from Afghan prisons in recent months as the United States moved forward with a military withdrawal."
Taken from: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/pentagon-thousands-isis-k-combatants-174349103.html
2. "What has been a cause for concern is that some of the prisoners who were released are top-level Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS leaders."
3. Another big mistake is having only ONE place of entry for Americans and allies to escape to and to have the terrorists know about it.
Having only one place for people to flee the country and then to have them sitting outside the airport, in mass numbers, being protected by a terrorist group like the Taliban is very naive. These people are sitting ducks.
Conclusion:
I don't trust the picture that the American government has been trying to paint. They would have you believe that the exit plan was calculated, every contingency planned for. Instead i see it as a rushed and botched job. It's a complete mess. This only reinforces my overall view of Democrats being naive and weak on security, although they are good at other things.
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