Apparently, the Taliban is back in control in Afghanistan. The Afghan president fled, and now the Taliban are in his office.



Many are pointing the finger at President Biden since a full withdrawal happened on his watch.

Was a full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan a bad thing?

What should Biden have done differently?
 
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Was a full withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan a bad thing?

I believe that withdrawing US military from Afghanistan is a bad thing eventhough Biden's predecessors (including Trump) talked about doing the same. Decades worth of investment into the country is gone. Not to mention that the place might yet again turn into a breeding ground for terrorists. Aren't the Taliban themselves, terrorists? So now, we've established that we are selective when it comes to our fight on "terrorism".

While many may put all of the blame of Biden, but I wouldn't. His predecessors are also to blame as well, starting with President Bush (Bush 43). We should have never entered into a war that we had no complete plan for winning. Pulling out may even mean that we had no real intentions on winning.
 
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What should Biden have done differently?
I think the draw down in military could've been more gradual and perhaps even less publicized. I would've tested the will of the Afghans (or at least some in their military) by telling them you would leave but not really do it just to see what would happen. Do several tests like that until the Afghans have shown that they can handle themselves and just to see how the Taliban would respond. Otherwise, this was a big miscalculation on Biden's part. The following certainly shows that to be the case:

The commander-in-chief had the question put to him during a press conference on July 8 regarding the drawdown of U.S. military operations in the country.

After Biden made a statement on the matter of the Afghanistan mission concluding on August 31, he was asked: "Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable?"

To this he replied: "No, it is not."

He added: "Because you—the Afghan troops have 300,000 well-equipped—as well-equipped as any army in the world—and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable."

Biden was also asked: "Do you trust the Taliban, Mr. President?"

Responding to this, he said: "Do I trust the Taliban? No. But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more re-—more competent in terms of conducting war."
Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...ched-8-million-times/ar-AANmZIG?ocid=msedgntp
 
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The stories in this video starting at 3:40 minute mark are completely unacceptable. I'm open to considering that not every scenario can be planned for - the bigger the problem the more likely that becomes (e.g. the covid pandemic). But some things were avoidable when it comes to Afghanistan.
 
Things that I question:
1. How could the Afghan army put up little to no fight against the Taliban and president Biden nor American intelligence not have a clue that a 300,000 Afghan well armed army would give up against a much smaller force? If Biden truly had no clue of this then that is a major failure.

2. Why does Biden trust the Taliban to allow Americans and non-American allies to enter Kabul airport?

..............
The more I research this issue and see in news reports, the more I question president Biden's judgement on the way he withdrew from Afghanistan. I just can't get over the thought that America may've just gotten fooled again. We spent a lot and we gained little to nothing it seems. Imagine if that money was spent here taking care of all of the homeless living on American streets.
 
Hi emily. Welcome. I read through .your article

Here are some things that I liked and agreed with:
The “forever war” is a claim that there is no viable exit. The war cannot be won, it can only be fought, endlessly, as neither side is either strong enough to win or weak enough to lose.
restatement of Aquinas: that a just war could only be fought to correct an evident wrong. But this was, interestingly, made subject to a prudential caveat: action can only be taken “if we have clear objectives and we are going to succeed”

Here's what I don't completely agree with (if that involves what we did in Afghanistan which is not only war but also nation building):
Just as the West did not simply give up in its conflict with Communism so, Mr Blair urges, it should have the patience to see the conflict with radical Islam to its conclusion.
“We held out the prospect”, writes Blair, “of turning Afghanistan from a failed terror state into a functioning democracy”. If we truly believed this, forever would not be such a long time.

My disagreement with Tony Blair?

Here's my opinion for what it's worth...

Having a "functioning democracy" involves nation building. While I'm not against that in every case, but I am against it when it involves neglecting your own country and people (plenty of homeless and sick people in America that needs taken care of). I am against it when the amount of costs and resources will be too high and the country you're helping is not showing signs of wanting to help themselves. Based on how this all ended, I don't get the sense that America realized how much the Afghans (or perhaps just the government/military) were not willing to help themselves. If they did know in advance, then we should've made that known and act on that thought by getting all Americans, Brits, and Afghan allies out at that point. Don't pretend that a corrupt army and government will stand after you withdraw American troops.
 
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