Afghan Withdraw: Biden’s Worst Foreign Policy Gaffe
Years of Loss, Grief and Regret
Lessons Never Learned
What a waste. What an embarrassment. These images are not memes of war. They are lives lost, wounded, and traumatized by 20 long years of war, and now the unfolding events of hostile takeover by a once weakened enemy. In less than two months since President Biden made this announcement to withdraw troops out of Afghanistan, it is clear that Taliban has ran over any gains American forces accomplished in Afghanistan including establishing a 300,000 strong Army. Or not so strong after all. They have been willing to lay down arms faster, than stand up and fight for their freedom. Meanwhile Afghanistan has surrendered to savage ideology of the Taliban. They are back, battle-hardened and are here to stay. The girls who thought they could be in school and be an engineer have been told to stay in their place. Because Taliban hates women being educated let alone without a face covering. Was this ultimately going to be the fate of Afghanistan, and Biden did us a favor by rushing it. Will we ever look back in a thousand years and conclude that he made the right decision. Its sad to see soldiers deployed, with tears in their eyes, and promising their young children to be back from the hell-hole that is Afghanistan. May be this time, they are back for good.
No one would have predicted the miserable ending of the Afghan democratic experiment unless you are the Secretary of Defense or an Afghan soldier or an American soldier who served in Afghanistan. The only one who could have seen a sweet Disney-like ending would only be President Biden. Biden was deluded by his long known desire to leave Afghanistan, and he desperately wanted to leave a mark on his legacy as the one who ended the war. Finally an American president who had no desire to be there unlike his three predecessors. What Biden had failed is to see the rationality of staying in Afghanistan and gain on the negotiation table in Qatar rather than ultimately cede ground and ultimately lose the war and the diplomatic efforts. The US withdrawal only emboldened the Taliban and made them lose appetite for negotiations which would have guaranteed the security of ordinary Afghans not just the war allies and interpreters.
The Biden administration has touted Biden long record of diplomacy around the world, but his first diplomatic tackle has ended in massive failure and cannot be resuscitated. Not to mention the lack-luster tackle between him and Putin in Geneva. Biden should have had more foresight than Obama or Trump, but he has performed badly on that front than both of them. Its not had to see the reason for frustrations across the political divide seeing the labor of former servicemen and active duty soldiers going to waste, and the enemy having a field-show with the same equipment that were once used against him. One can only imagine Biden taking the final call to withdraw against the advice or protest of any real soldier or intelligence. Biden has brought us where Obama once stood when he withdrew from Iraq and left ISIS to run amok in Syria. These are lessons not learnt by Biden who thought he knew more and better than the younger Obama on foreign policy, may be he wasn’t that savvy after all or simply ignored his own instincts when his moods and passions screamed. Leave!
We all waited in baited breath what would become of Biden’s presidency after living at the edge of our seats during Trump’s. Biden seemed like the hands that would rock us to safety, but we didn’t know they would be this lazy and sloppy when he dozed off, when he should have been alert all along. You may be forgiven to think that Biden was naïve to incoming danger, but he was simply arrogant dismissing questions when it became obvious that Afghanistan would soon be at the brink. This is not the story of American comeback we wanted, or Biden had promised. We thought the right decisions would ensure the world’s stability. We all know that Taliban is the horse that Al Qaeda has been riding on all these since the helm of Osama bin Laden. Can we remind ourselves that Biden thought it was a bad call for Obama to kill Osama. A stronger Taliban will unleash terror to establish their religious ideology, and here we go again to fight terrorism. Biden’s decisions put us all in harms way allover again, and very few would be prepared to waste their lives in battle fields, and see politicians undo what they have build. What a waste! What a preventable state of events! But again, it might be too late. This war will be done and dusted by September 11, unless Biden listens to the voice of intelligence.
