On the anniversary of the last American C-17 transport plane leaving Afghanistan, images of that shameful day still haunt President Joe Biden and taint his legacy. They will do so in perpetuity.
Recall some of these appalling events. Men who had stowed away on the aircraft undercarriage in the hope of fleeing Taliban barbarisms fell to their deaths from the sky. Children were passed from hand to hand over the airport’s barbed wire in hope that they would be flown to safety. Taliban fighters were armed with American weapons and clothed in American uniforms abandoned by the Biden administration in its panicked retreat.
These images, which dishonor Biden, were the result of his terrible decisions in the spring and summer of 2021. They were, however, not seen by Americans alone, which makes matters much worse. They were broadcast around the world for all of America’s friends and allies to see. Biden made our country look weak, incompetent, and unreliable — because it was being weak, incompetent, and unreliable. This naturally unnerved allies and emboldened enemies. The United States is far more vulnerable today thanks to Biden’s Afghanistan policy.
Biden’s defenders blame former President Donald Trump. They say Biden was just doing the best he could with the bad hand dealt by his predecessor. This is false, even though Trump’s Doha agreement with the Taliban to leave the country by May 1 was a mistake. Biden nevertheless made things worse with every decision.
First, he falsely framed that his choice was between complete, instant evacuation and a massive new surge of troops. But troop levels had been below 15,000 since 2014, and they suffered minimal casualties. America has similar troop levels in Iraq today to ensure the Islamic State does not return to power. A similar force could still be supporting the Afghan government today.
Second, the timing of the troop withdrawal was made for the crassest of political reasons. Biden inherited a May 1 deadline but could have delayed it until any time he chose. Instead, he decided to change that date to Sept. 11. Let’s ponder that for a moment. Was this date chosen for security reasons? Of course not. Biden simply wanted the political win of ending the Afghanistan War on the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on America.
Then things got worse, fast. On July 8, Biden said the withdrawal date was being moved forward to Aug. 31. “Speed is safety,” Biden assured us. At the same time, Biden said Taliban victory and control of the entire country was “highly unlikely.” Asked if he trusted the Taliban, Biden said, “No, but I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war.”
This was disastrously wrong, thanks largely to Biden’s foolish decision to pull American contractors out of Afghanistan with our troops. Contractors were essential to the maintenance and effectiveness of the Afghan air force. Without air support, the Afghan military quickly crumbled.
Biden’s defenders also point to the killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri as proof that Biden’s “over the horizon” counterterrorism strategy is working. In fact, it shows the opposite. Al Zawahiri’s open residence in Kabul shows that America’s most dangerous enemies are calculating that their adversary is now so much weaker that they can live comfortably in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Without a presence there, America is blind to their activities. China is comfortably filling the security vacuum and signing lucrative deals for rare earth minerals in the country.
Finally, it would be unfair to say that Biden’s Afghanistan debacle caused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But it has been reported that analysts who have “spent their careers studying Putin” believe it played a role. Putin gambled on aggression in Europe because he “believed that the Biden administration was chastened by the humiliating U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and wanted to avoid new wars.”
Weakness invites challenge.
Congressional Democrats have held countless hearings on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. But no investigation has ever been conducted into the deaths of 13 U.S. service members killed by a suicide bomber while guarding Kabul’s international airport, nor has there been an investigation into the hundreds of Americans Biden left behind or the thousands of Afghans who risked their lives working with America.
Biden had been failing in office before the Afghan debacle, but it was that fiasco of a withdrawal that ripped the veil back on his incompetence, cynicism, and shallowness. It shone a light on many of his administration’s ineradicable traits: its inability to accept responsibility for anything, its use of Trump as a scapegoat for all Biden’s own mistakes, its refusal to let observed reality change ideological preconceptions, and its inability to admit mistakes and change course. Whether the issue is COVID, immigration, or inflation, Biden has been a disaster for the nation.
