On Afghanistan and Biden: He deserves some of the criticism for not fully anticipating this Afghan Government would completely fold and thus lead to a full blown humanitarian crisis. But, let's not sugar coat it, there were no good options either way.
No matter what, this was going to be a complete mess as we withdrew.
I've gone back and started to listen to those who has been studying and know the region for decades. One of the people I used to work under, Steve Coll, has written some great works on the history of Afghanistan and the US presence there. His book, Ghost Wars, is essential reading on the lead up to 9/11. His other book, Directorate S goes into the failures during early years of the conflict under Bush and Obama. He, and other experts where saying in the spring and summer, hey we need to prepare to get this Afghan translators and others out of here. But, the administration drug and continues to drag their feet on approving things.
What no one really figured was how quickly the Afghan government would fall. That is on the intelligence community and our military commanders on the ground. We knew for years, through SIGAR and the Afghan Papers the Post has published, about how corrupt and fragile the Afghan government was. The fact that was not relayed that it could mean the government will collapse as quickly as it did is a massive intel and military failure.
One option could have been to keep Bagram air base open and not leave it as we did last month. The military said they left it because it was too big to defend at the time. Another thing to consider is as of June, the Afghan government did not want a lot of people to leave when the US withdrew. So, the administration decided to listen to them and not start mass evacs. Still, this looks and is very bad now.
Biden also had little option in terms of leverage with the Taliban. Trump, and really only a Republican could do is, signed a deal with the Taliban, without the Afghan government involved. Biden could have extended the deal a little longer past 8/31, but seems like now all the leverage is with the Taliban.
This whole think has made me revaluate everything we have done there since 9/11. Every administration has screwed this up, just like Vietnam. It does seem like the only lesson we have learned from Vietnam is that American's do not like mass causalities. Other than that, we made the exact same mistakes as Vietnam.
Which begs the question, when should we have left? You could say back after the Taliban fell in 02, but not sure the Bush administration could sell that argument at the time. One timeframe was in May 2011, after we killed Bin Laden, and Adm. Mullen said that VP Biden was in favor of that at the time. But, knowing this board, I'm sure Obama leaving Afghanistan and then it collapsing would have gone well here and by the Republicans. Trump could, and likely should have in 2017-2018. He even said he strongly considered it. But, how realistic was that option? Also, do you think Trump would be handling this situation better or worse than Biden? I'm not so sure. He would get the Americans out for sure, but Afghans themselves? I highly doubt that given remarks by Stephen Miller last week.
It does make us ask pretty hard questions as we come upon 20 years since 9/11. Was it worth it? Did we accomplish anything? Are we safer today than before 9/11? I know for me, Afghanistan is now linked with Vietnam as the latest American failure.