You are exactly right about Afghanistan (and the rest of today's letter). Jay Markowitz had it exactly right in a letter in the NYT: "U.S. soldiers can spend forever killing Taliban troops. But only Afghans can defeat them." That was a lesson that we never learned. One thing I would add: If Biden wants to get something useful out of this debacle, he will initiate a deep and completely frank investigation into how US policymakers could be so completely befuddled about the true state of affairs in Afghanistan.
Initially, the most difficult part of the withdrawal from Afghanistan for Joe Biden has been the scrambling to explain the chaos (even an explanation that withdrawal was to save American lives comes in a year when there have been no deaths among American military in Afghanistan). If anything, the collapse of the Afghan military demonstrates that there was something deeply wrong. Maybe, like the Kurds, the Afghani military should have included women -- who had something to fight for. Here's an extreme thought about the chaos. We have an obligation, not only to those who worked with the American military, but to every Afghani to w him we gave hope. Evacuate those who wants to get out of there. Use Guam or somewhere else as a holding area to necessary assessments. These are people for whom we have responsibility.
Thank you for remembering veterans of the last two decades of military struggle in the Middle East. Afghanistan has always been a losing proposition for foreign intervention (see Heather Cox Richardson’s blog for August 15). Biden is decisive, and he has ended the steps by which three interim Presidents, one Democratic, tried to win the conflict. Thank you also for information of the Postcards to Voters program re: Gavin Newsom. We have a lot at stake in California.
It's not a question of whether or not to leave Afghanistan. Of course we could not stay indefinitely. However, Biden's tragic error was not to begin getting people out months ago! Why did the administration wait till the very last minute that re-created Americans shameful departure from Viet Nam?
Hi, Mina. Biden didn't wait until the last minute. The US has been engaged in a ten-year withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In 2011, there were 98,200 troops in Afghanistan. In 2011, President Obama announced the end to hostilities and also announced a complete withdrawal of US troops by 2014. That planned three-year withdrawal dragged on for ten years, until April of 2021, when there were only 3,500 troops remaining. In April 2021, Biden announced that the withdrawal of the remaining 3,500 troops would be completed by September 2021 (four months after the agreed-upon date in Trump's deal with the Taliban.)
Last week, the Afghan Army numbered 186,000 active-duty members. Its Air Force was 7,000 strong, with 400 pilots and 200 aircraft. If the withdrawal of the final 3,500 U.S. troops is all that it took to defeat the Afghan army and topple the government, it is difficult to see how the US could have ever left Afghanistan without resulting chaos. And it would have been risky to draw down the remaining 3,500 troops gradually as many readers suggested. At some point, the US presence would have been small enough that the remaining troops would have been at risk of being overrun by Taliban or captured as hostages. Leaving when there were enough troops to stage an orderly and secure withdrawal was a necessity.
First of all, thanks for taking the time to explain what you did regarding U.S. and allied troops. It's not the troops I'm worried about but rather all the translators etc. who are in danger of losing their lives if they remain in Afghanistan.
I heard/saw a truly impassioned interview on MSNBC with a former soldier whose life was saved by his translator. He and his organization have pleaded for the administration to get helpers out before they are trapped and doomed to die.
Robin Wright wrote a piece for The New Yorker which expresses her fears that the U.S. reputation and standing in the world has been seriously damaged. And I fear she's right!
Thank you for the reference to the Josh Marshall piece in TPM. It was very enlightening. Among the many things that are bothering me about the withdrawal and the reporting on the withdrawal, two things rise to the top for me.
1 - Heather Cox Richardson in her 8/15/21 newsletter wrote, “The U.S. and many other countries are rushing to evacuate their diplomatic personnel and allies from the country, although Russia is not,…” Given the transactional tendencies of Donald Trump, what side deals did he have with the Russians or other Taliban supporters related to this withdrawal ? If he won reelection? If he lost?
2 - When is somebody going to pay attention to the long and inexcusable history our generals have of lying to the President and the American people about the status of war. Overly optimistic assessments on the part of our generals goes back, at least, to the Civil War and probably further.
You are exactly right about Afghanistan (and the rest of today's letter). Jay Markowitz had it exactly right in a letter in the NYT: "U.S. soldiers can spend forever killing Taliban troops. But only Afghans can defeat them." That was a lesson that we never learned. One thing I would add: If Biden wants to get something useful out of this debacle, he will initiate a deep and completely frank investigation into how US policymakers could be so completely befuddled about the true state of affairs in Afghanistan.
Initially, the most difficult part of the withdrawal from Afghanistan for Joe Biden has been the scrambling to explain the chaos (even an explanation that withdrawal was to save American lives comes in a year when there have been no deaths among American military in Afghanistan). If anything, the collapse of the Afghan military demonstrates that there was something deeply wrong. Maybe, like the Kurds, the Afghani military should have included women -- who had something to fight for. Here's an extreme thought about the chaos. We have an obligation, not only to those who worked with the American military, but to every Afghani to w him we gave hope. Evacuate those who wants to get out of there. Use Guam or somewhere else as a holding area to necessary assessments. These are people for whom we have responsibility.
Thank you for remembering veterans of the last two decades of military struggle in the Middle East. Afghanistan has always been a losing proposition for foreign intervention (see Heather Cox Richardson’s blog for August 15). Biden is decisive, and he has ended the steps by which three interim Presidents, one Democratic, tried to win the conflict. Thank you also for information of the Postcards to Voters program re: Gavin Newsom. We have a lot at stake in California.
It's not a question of whether or not to leave Afghanistan. Of course we could not stay indefinitely. However, Biden's tragic error was not to begin getting people out months ago! Why did the administration wait till the very last minute that re-created Americans shameful departure from Viet Nam?
Hi, Mina. Biden didn't wait until the last minute. The US has been engaged in a ten-year withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In 2011, there were 98,200 troops in Afghanistan. In 2011, President Obama announced the end to hostilities and also announced a complete withdrawal of US troops by 2014. That planned three-year withdrawal dragged on for ten years, until April of 2021, when there were only 3,500 troops remaining. In April 2021, Biden announced that the withdrawal of the remaining 3,500 troops would be completed by September 2021 (four months after the agreed-upon date in Trump's deal with the Taliban.)
Last week, the Afghan Army numbered 186,000 active-duty members. Its Air Force was 7,000 strong, with 400 pilots and 200 aircraft. If the withdrawal of the final 3,500 U.S. troops is all that it took to defeat the Afghan army and topple the government, it is difficult to see how the US could have ever left Afghanistan without resulting chaos. And it would have been risky to draw down the remaining 3,500 troops gradually as many readers suggested. At some point, the US presence would have been small enough that the remaining troops would have been at risk of being overrun by Taliban or captured as hostages. Leaving when there were enough troops to stage an orderly and secure withdrawal was a necessity.
First of all, thanks for taking the time to explain what you did regarding U.S. and allied troops. It's not the troops I'm worried about but rather all the translators etc. who are in danger of losing their lives if they remain in Afghanistan.
I heard/saw a truly impassioned interview on MSNBC with a former soldier whose life was saved by his translator. He and his organization have pleaded for the administration to get helpers out before they are trapped and doomed to die.
Robin Wright wrote a piece for The New Yorker which expresses her fears that the U.S. reputation and standing in the world has been seriously damaged. And I fear she's right!
You may already have seen this from the Sierra Club re recipients of donations from the fossil fuel industry: https://www.sierraclub.org/california/capitol-voice-august-2021#Dollars
Thank you for the reference to the Josh Marshall piece in TPM. It was very enlightening. Among the many things that are bothering me about the withdrawal and the reporting on the withdrawal, two things rise to the top for me.
1 - Heather Cox Richardson in her 8/15/21 newsletter wrote, “The U.S. and many other countries are rushing to evacuate their diplomatic personnel and allies from the country, although Russia is not,…” Given the transactional tendencies of Donald Trump, what side deals did he have with the Russians or other Taliban supporters related to this withdrawal ? If he won reelection? If he lost?
2 - When is somebody going to pay attention to the long and inexcusable history our generals have of lying to the President and the American people about the status of war. Overly optimistic assessments on the part of our generals goes back, at least, to the Civil War and probably further.
Looks like I spoke too soon. MSBNC's Joy Reid is hitting my #2 pretty hard on her show today.