I know how much everyone hates "whataboutism"

[ibegurpard]

But the Afghanistan situation is just one of those situations where we're going to have to suck it up and engage in it full force. The Trump administration set the stage for this with their Taliban agreement and the Republicans cannot be allowed to walk back their praise of those actions now.

[Pantagruel]

1. Publish everywhere

Link to tweet

[hamsterjill]

2. Dems need to remind the American public

About Trump and Bush/Cheney every chance they get. Messaging. Loud. And Long!!

[jpak]

5. No

You are quite incorrect

Try again

[iemanja]

6. Really? Is the pillow guy right?

Trump has been president all this time?

[jpak]

14. Trump and Pompeo inked the deal with the Taliban

To withdraw US troops this year (May)

Trump had the new Taliban president and 5000 Taliban fighters freed from prison as part of that deal.

Trump is entirely responsible for all this.

Buy a clue and stop carrying Trump's koolaid.

Yup

[iemanja]

17. Biden isn't Trump's puppet

He is capable of and responsible for his own decisions. He changed many policies that Trump entered into. He chose to follow through on this one, and he claimed non-Taliban Afghans would fight for their country. He was wrong.

[secondwind]

22. You need to be up to date on what is going on.

The fact that folks didn't fight is complicated...many of them were not being paid, there was even hunger in the ranks, etc.

READ AND EDUCATE YOURSELF.

[PSPS]

24. LOL. "The fact that folks didn't fight is complicated." Um, no. It's not complicated at all.

[Blues Heron]

7. It's Bush's fault

He’s the moron that tried to nation build.

[iemanja]

8. For starting the war, sure

But the withdraw is on Biden.

Remember all the talk about how no one had been able to conquer Afghanistan, not even the Soviets? Well it proved to be true. 20 years and the US accomplished nothing in the long run.

[Blues Heron]

10. I blame Asshole Bush for all of it

[Hugh_Lebowski]

11. Trump drew the troops down to 2500 before leaving, and SIGNED A DEAL

as POTUS.

There's no 'pretending' involved here. Trump bears at least some responsibility, and this video proves that HE believed he forced Biden's hand by his own actions.

There's certainly a case to be made for that point, and Biden is already making it.

[iemanja]

13. the public is not going to hold Trump responsible

for what is happening in Afghanistan now. That is a simple fact. People are busy deflecting because they know the current situation is a clusterfuck. They are trying to make themselves feel better about it. There is no feeling better.

Presidents can and do change prior administrations' policy all the time. Biden could have maintained that level or increased it. Instead he chose to leave. It may be that this was always going to happen, no matter when the US pulled out, but it's happening on Biden's watch.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

15. Dude went on record saying he forced Biden's hand a month ago, and said

Biden Couldn't Stop The Process.

No reason to NOT at least throw his own words in his face if he's going to armchair QB this bullshit.

[iemanja]

18. and you believe that?

You believe that Biden has no authority to determine US foreign policy because Trump says so?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

25. I didn't say that, but this is politics (nt)

[FakeNoose]

12. Back in February 2020, Chump and Pompeo made this deal with the Taliban

It has been posted all over DU for the past week. Sorry if you missed the 20 or 30 posts about it, but I'm sure it won't take much effort for you to find them.

Chump and Pompeo thought they would still be in the White House while this withdrawal happened - now - so they could spin it however they wanted. But you know what happened, Chump lost the election and he's out. Now he's trying to throw major blame on Biden for something he (Chump) set up.

It was inevitable that we would leave Afghanistan. Some time. Many of us felt it should have happened 10 years ago. But it didn't, it's happening now. That is all.

[The Magistrate]

16. The Public Doesn't Give The North End Of a Southbound Rat About It

I forget where I saw it, but the best comment I've seen yet of this was approximately Today we took a great step towards achieving America's goal in Afghanistan --- not having to think about Afghanistan anymore.

[FakeNoose]

19. Well it's all over the news media, the internet and DU

What segment of the "public" are we?

[The Magistrate]

20. Riubbernecking Is One Thing

Concern quite another.

[TheRealNorth]

28. exactly

They should ask how many of you are willing to sacrifice your daughter or son, or go fight there yourself, and to pay $1000 a year for the next 10 years, to continue fighting in Afghanistan.

People want somebody else to do the fighting and someone else to pay the taxes to pay for the war, but are not willing to ante up themselves. All we are seeing is the return of the chickenhawks.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. The Taliban has built its resources and control since Trump made a deal with them

See https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215741707

The deals, initially offered early last year, were often described by Afghan officials as cease-fires, but Taliban leaders were in fact offering money in exchange for government forces to hand over their weapons, according to an Afghan officer and a U.S. official.

Over the next year and a half, the meetings advanced to the district level and then rapidly on to provincial capitals, culminating in a breathtaking series of negotiated surrenders by government forces, according to interviews with more than a dozen Afghan officers, police, special operations troops and other soldiers.
...
The Taliban capitalized on the uncertainty caused by the February 2020 agreement reached in Doha, Qatar, between the militant group and the United States calling for a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some Afghan forces realized they would soon no longer be able to count on American air power and other crucial battlefield support and grew receptive to the Taliban’s approaches.
...
The Doha agreement, designed to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan, instead left many Afghan forces demoralized, bringing into stark relief the corrupt impulses of many Afghan officials and their tenuous loyalty to the country’s central government. Some police officers complained that they had not been paid in six months or more.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/afghanistans-military-collapse-illicit-deals-and-mass-desertions/ar-AANlu01

[Hugh_Lebowski]

29. IQ45 left Biden in a pretty f***ed up position is the reality of the situation (nt)

[TheRealNorth]

4. Republicans hate "Nation building"....

But that was the only way this was going to have a happy ending- by dumping the money and manpower to build Afghanistan akin to how we rebuilt Germany and Japan after WW2. The best opportunity for this was in 2001-02, but Bush, Cheney, and Rummy had other priorities.

[ibegurpard]

26. Yep

WMDs and Saddam was gassing his own people.
Afghanistan? Never heard of it.

[frogmarch]

9. and CNN needs to stop

bringing Bill Kristol (I call him Billy PNAC) on as a panelist, just because he doesn't like trump.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Kristol

[Initech]

23. They've been predicting this would happen for years.

The conservatives then were screaming how Obama should pull out of Afghanistan, but at that time they said we shouldn't because the Taliban would take over the Afghan government. Then the military said that this exact thing would happen. And guess what? The exact thing they would predicted would happen, happened.

And now conservatives are screaming for Biden to resign. I swear some people won't be happy no matter who is in charge.

[Catherine Vincent]

27. Republicans are asking President Biden to resign?

Give me a damn break!