First-term mistakes are common for presidents. For some, those mistakes define their legacy, while others’ errors cling to the historical record as a footnote. President Joe Biden and his advisers reportedly believe their Afghanistan mess will fade from public memory, but that is a gamble.

Reasonable people can disagree with the decision to pull out of Afghanistan, but the way in which it was handled was replete with errors. First was the date of the withdrawal on Sept. 11. The Biden team may have thought it was a good idea to have the “end” of the war coincide with the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, but all it did was hand the Taliban and jihadists in general a symbolic victory. Then, there was the announcement of the pullout, coming at the beginning of the summer fighting season, which gave the Taliban a clear path to taking over the country. In addition to this was the poor decision to abandon Bagram Airfield, which took away a key strategic asset and overloaded Kabul airport, making the withdrawal more chaotic than it needed to be. Compounding all of this was a flawed national security decision-making process, in which Joe Biden’s mind appeared to be made up about things and his political advisers did not want to challenge the president’s predispositions.