Well-said. That's the biggest elephant in the room, especially the jab mandate and the irrational reaction to Covid in general. Those certainly killed morale big time. As for Afghanistan, it was not the withdrawal per se, but the chaotic and humiliating manner in which it was done (no doubt set into motion by Trump, who effectively sandbagged Biden in that regard). The problem wasn't that we pulled out too soon, but rather 19 years too late. It was basically another Vietnam, but at least with the Vietnam withdrawal, we achieved nearly two years of relative "peace with honor" (i.e. temporarily saving face) before the North ultimately reneged on the deal and took over the South. Not so with the Taliban, who rapidly took over without delay before the withdrawal was even complete.
And Slow Joe was powerless? Again my impression is that Bagram was a very bad decision and Trump had nothing to do with that. Nor with abandoning all of that intact materielle.
I admit that was a major blunder to abandon Bagram. Scratch that, it was so monumental a blunder that there are literally memes about it, and Trump had nothing to do with that. Granted. But in the aggregate, Trump still set the stage overall.
Seriously???? You blame Trump for Biden's incompetence? Biden didn't have to withdraw. He overturned how many executive orders immediately after inauguration, but Afghanistan withdrawal was a bridge too far? Biden was forced to withdraw by Trump? That is a ridiculous assertion.
Lest we forget, Trump made the deal with the Taliban before he left office. A deal which was presumed to be irreversible. Biden inherited that. In fact, Biden actually delayed the pullout by a few months after the originally agreed upon date. But of course Trump would rather memory hole all of that, for obvious reasons.
In any case, it was a war America lost before the war began. That said, there were many earlier times during which we could have withdrawn more deliberately and less disastrously, before the Taliban regained strength. Instead of just ghosting the Afghan government and people long ago, every single president from Bush through Trump kept on benching and breadcrumbing them for two decades. Then Biden slow-faded them after Trump set the slow fade in motion.
Thus ended a disastrous 20 year situationship writ large, albeit 19+ years too late.
Nation building is and always was a patently idiotic notion. We conducted a brilliant campaign in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban. Instead of leaving we spent a fortune in precious American blood and treasure. Bush was a fool.
Both тАЬexercisesтАЭ should have been six months. Iraq and Afghanistan. Then they should have been used as тАЬteaching momentsтАЭ for the rest of the rogues gallery.
So true. Go in. Break their toys. And leave. If they act up again, wash, rinse, repeat. Nation building was for chumps. Bush was one of our worst presidents. in recent memory. His only saving grace was that he loved his country, even if his policies were to the contrary.
Neither one should have been done in the first place IMHO. Especially Iraq. And if Bush were smart, he could have gotten Bin Laden and many of his henchmen without forcing a full blown regime change via a full blown invasion.
Well-said. That's the biggest elephant in the room, especially the jab mandate and the irrational reaction to Covid in general. Those certainly killed morale big time. As for Afghanistan, it was not the withdrawal per se, but the chaotic and humiliating manner in which it was done (no doubt set into motion by Trump, who effectively sandbagged Biden in that regard). The problem wasn't that we pulled out too soon, but rather 19 years too late. It was basically another Vietnam, but at least with the Vietnam withdrawal, we achieved nearly two years of relative "peace with honor" (i.e. temporarily saving face) before the North ultimately reneged on the deal and took over the South. Not so with the Taliban, who rapidly took over without delay before the withdrawal was even complete.
Wait, Trump said forget Bagram? I missed that.
Trump set the stage for all that followed.
And Slow Joe was powerless? Again my impression is that Bagram was a very bad decision and Trump had nothing to do with that. Nor with abandoning all of that intact materielle.
I admit that was a major blunder to abandon Bagram. Scratch that, it was so monumental a blunder that there are literally memes about it, and Trump had nothing to do with that. Granted. But in the aggregate, Trump still set the stage overall.
Seriously???? You blame Trump for Biden's incompetence? Biden didn't have to withdraw. He overturned how many executive orders immediately after inauguration, but Afghanistan withdrawal was a bridge too far? Biden was forced to withdraw by Trump? That is a ridiculous assertion.
Lest we forget, Trump made the deal with the Taliban before he left office. A deal which was presumed to be irreversible. Biden inherited that. In fact, Biden actually delayed the pullout by a few months after the originally agreed upon date. But of course Trump would rather memory hole all of that, for obvious reasons.
In any case, it was a war America lost before the war began. That said, there were many earlier times during which we could have withdrawn more deliberately and less disastrously, before the Taliban regained strength. Instead of just ghosting the Afghan government and people long ago, every single president from Bush through Trump kept on benching and breadcrumbing them for two decades. Then Biden slow-faded them after Trump set the slow fade in motion.
Thus ended a disastrous 20 year situationship writ large, albeit 19+ years too late.
(Mic drop)
Such original thinking - Blame Trump!
Nation building is and always was a patently idiotic notion. We conducted a brilliant campaign in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban. Instead of leaving we spent a fortune in precious American blood and treasure. Bush was a fool.
Both тАЬexercisesтАЭ should have been six months. Iraq and Afghanistan. Then they should have been used as тАЬteaching momentsтАЭ for the rest of the rogues gallery.
So true. Go in. Break their toys. And leave. If they act up again, wash, rinse, repeat. Nation building was for chumps. Bush was one of our worst presidents. in recent memory. His only saving grace was that he loved his country, even if his policies were to the contrary.
Neither one should have been done in the first place IMHO. Especially Iraq. And if Bush were smart, he could have gotten Bin Laden and many of his henchmen without forcing a full blown regime change via a full blown invasion.
You deployed to Afghanistan when?
BINGO. So true indeed. Nation building is a fool's errand, and Bush was clearly a fool.
My suspicion is that the precipitous Afghan withdrawal was to free up resources for Ukraine.
I agree.