The media are currently praying that the situation in Afghanistan will turn into a fiasco. As the U.S. airlifts thousands of American citizens out of the Kabul airport, many in the media are wondering why the Biden administration “trusts the Taliban.” I highly doubt that Biden “trusts” the Taliban, rather that the current agreement incentivizes both parties to play nice.
If the Taliban gives the U.S. trouble, it will almost certainly result in strikes and international outcry. They simply do not want this, and why would they. It is far easier for the Taliban to allow the U.S. to leave Afghanistan with its tail in between its legs instead of fighting its way out. The Taliban have won with very little casualties, and I think they would like to keep it that way. It certainly would give them ammunition in saying that their recent takeover of Afghanistan was not particularly violent.
From Biden’s perspective, if he were to strike the Taliban, things would get a lot worse for him in the media. If the U.S. targets Taliban positions in Kabul, the group would almost certainly escalate the situation for American citizens, handing the media a great victory. They would be able to wack Biden with a bloody withdrawal for weeks, if not months. Biden’s biggest fear right now is a hostage crisis, which still definitely could happen, from either malice or mistake, but I doubt it as of now.
I have also seen a lot of attention given to women’s rights, which is definitely important, but makes me wonder why it is brought up now. Politics is not a game of what is true and what is not. It is a game of what is seen and what is not. Taliban rule is certainly a step backwards for women’s rights in Afghanistan, and that is truly unfortunate and saddening. However, I have never heard a single one of these pundits bring up women’s rights when it is not politically convenient. What about women’s rights in Iraq and Syria, which became markedly worse after U.S. intervention. I do not hear any of them talking about that. Indeed, the plight of Afghan women is being used as a political club to wack the current administration, much like it was used by the Bush administration to start the war in the first place.
I have also heard this cursed opinion many times in the last week: “I agree that we should withdraw, but not like this.” You will not hear me defend the withdrawal by any means, it was rushed and poorly executed. However, what else was supposed to happen? I cannot stress enough that the Afghan National Army (ANA) was a paper tiger, known for its corruption and ineffectiveness. Before Afghanistan found itself back in the news in recent weeks and months, the Taliban had been killing ANA soldiers at an unsustainable rate. The Taliban were literally killing Afghan soldiers faster than the ANA could recruit them. The same people say: “ why did we pull out during the fighting season, and not the winter?” The fighting season occurs every year, just like it did with Vietnam. Pushing the withdrawal would not have had a serious effect on the outcome. There was no way Biden could pull U.S. troops and citizens out of the country without causing the breakdown of the ANA. The withdrawal was always going to end badly, because this war was a huge failure.
Which brings me to my last point: why so much focus on Trump and Biden, but almost none on Bush and Obama. Four consecutive administrations lied about this war, yet the media only want to focus on two of them. Bush got us into this terrible war, and Biden got us out. The Bush administration and its cronies are the ones who started this war, yet they face none of the consequences for its failure. Biden could have kicked the can down the road, but he did not. This was not some moral decision, but a political one. So many polls showed that the American people wanted out of Afghanistan. So that is what he did: Try and ride the wave of Trump’s populism, but the media would never allow this. One must wonder after this debacle why a president would ever try and end a losing war, if all they will get in return is nonsensical attacks from the media and political establishment.
And now, the same generals who lied about this war are on CNN and Fox News as experts. They are quite literally losers, and I am not sure why anyone would take their opinions seriously after this 20 year debacle. If they were so bloody smart, they would have won the war.
I know this post is a bit of a ramble, and perhaps not organized in a great way, but I found myself so frustrated by the coverage of recent event. I have followed this war for years now and can tell you with certainty that this was always going to be the ending. The U.S. failed in Vietnam and now, has failed in Afghanistan. I have seen pundits say we should have never left that country either. Regardless, Biden is not my favorite president, nor was this withdrawal well-planned, but this was going to be the outcome. The choice was always indefinite military occupation (which essentially amounts to modern colonialism) or a Taliban victory. It truly pains me that I have to write a post like this.