WAPO OPED: Jen Rubin: A primer on false narratives about Afghanistan

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/18/primer-false-narratives-about-afghanistan/

A primer on false narratives about Afghanistan

By Jennifer Rubin: Today: 7:45 am

There are many alarmist headlines pronouncing with certitude what has occurred or will occur in Afghanistan. Many are premature — or alternatively, out of date. Others ignore information now available to us that debunks fanciful explanations for the Afghan military’s disintegration.

Fortunately, both the Defense Department (through spokesperson John Kirby and Hank Taylor, the deputy director for regional operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and the White House (through national security adviser Jake Sullivan) answered dozens of questions on Tuesday. We also have the benefit of the detailed inspector general’s report on the Afghanistan conflict. Whether one “believes" the Biden administration or not, the questions certainly reveal some of the misconceptions that plague analysis based on fast-changing events. For example:

We abandoned the Afghans. We failed to get people out. False. The airport in Kabul is up and running flights to evacuate U.S. citizens, third-party nationals, interpreters and other Afghan partners. The military predicted that within 24 hours, we would be flying out 5,000 to 9,000 people per day. The administration has been in “communication” with Taliban commanders to allow people safe passage to the airport. The administration will be judged on whether it completes its mission.

Chaos! Failure! As Sullivan said, no 20-year war will end on a dime smoothly. White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged there have been chaotic moments, but the evacuation is underway. Pronouncing failure based on the first 24 hours of a complex operation is premature. If the administration restores an orderly process, the initial conclusion of TV-watchers will prove false.

[JohnSJ]

1. liberal media, my ass

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[Ocelot II]

3. Very good piece, worth reading.

[crickets]

22. Agreed. It's good to see some sanity and common sense

in reporting about the situation. The "the sky is falling!" hyperbole gets old real quick.

[Budi]

4. K & R . To JRubin. ALSO, Remember all the math-challenged concerned parents?

Link to tweet

"Can’t help but notice how many people who complained about not understanding their kid’s math homework turned into infectious disease experts and military strategists over the last year and a half."

🙄

[betsuni]

25. That's a good one.

[lindysalsagal]

26. Reality. Not half as much fun as hyperbole.

[IronLionZion]

5. RW media doesn't want Biden bringing in the translators or their families

and are complaining about refugees and replacement theory and how these people will be voting Dem or other BS.

[justie18]

6. Plus

Now that the evacuations are going smoothly at the Kabul airport, the coverage has been dropped drastically. CNN in particular has lost interest. CNN and MSNBC keep playing the same footage from Sunday and Monday when the situation was chaotic.

[Hekate]

7. Jennifer Rubin is always worth the read

[wryter2000]

8. I hope she stays on the right side

If we ever get a more or less sane Republican in office, will she switch back?

[lark]

9. So fucking sick of the drama addicted media going for the easy story & not the true one.

drumpf set this all up when he let their leader and 5000 Taliban fighters out of jail - he did this!!!! So Fucking sick of Joe Biden failed in Afghanistan total BS that's just about all I hear on MSN, no one is discussing that drumpf already had set this tale in motion.

Now, I do fault the military, and bigly. They should have known this, it was obvious, but they have never been honest about that place from the beginning or we'd have left 19 years ago.

[bluedevil4]

13. trump did let out

5000 Talibans but it's not his evacuation or lack of

[hadEnuf]

18. The Taliban were primed and ready to move once the pullout was announced. That took planning.

Of course the worst of the Taliban that were in prison have had 3 years to plan, thanks to Trump letting them out.

It seems awful strange that a ragtag army of nutcases could take over an entire country so fast, and do it pretty much by surprise.

Even our own military who have been there for 20 years were surprised at the speed of this. How can one expect an orderly evacuation under these "surprise" circumstances?

Funny how everything Trump negotiates results in all kinds of "surprises".

Something about this whole ordeal stinks.

[wnylib]

16. American media have a middle school mentality and

level of emotional maturity.

[McKim]

21. The Media is Addicted to War!

The media is addicted to war!!!! So are many Americans who view it as some kind of distant exotic football game, "who is winning?" type of infotainment. War is a great distraction from looking soberly at our own mass poverty and lack of social goods. Chaos is exciting!

[Ohioboy]

10. If in the end the ongoing evacuation results in overall success...

watch Trump take credit. He'll claim he was the one that negotiated with the Taliban.

[Ligyron]

11. Just listened to the latest "press conference".

You think Sean Hannity had supplied the questions to the MSM to ask.

“Don’t you regret abandoning the Afghans and remaining Americans to a fate worse than death”?

“Are you not a bunch of idiots for not having forseen these events”?

“Joe Biden instructed you to completely screw this up on purpose right? In other words It’s all his fault right”?

Sickening.

[bluedevil4]

12. The problem is

they can't get to the airport. A message was sent out in their morning stating to get to the airport but added the US can't help you

It's all chaos and I can't find a station that says any different

[maxsolomon]

15. The US couldn't help them before Kabul fell.

2500 troops; not enough to give military escorts. Somehow the top government officials made it, however.

[bluedevil4]

17. we should not have evacuate the 2500 troops

until all the diplomats, american citizens and those afghans we promised to bring here were removed.
That's why everyone is in such an uproar

[Warpy]

14. I don't know if they'll get all 14,000 out

because there are other foreigners who might have priority, I know even Iceland had a contingent of NGO workers there, most of NATO did.

Commercial flights have all been canceled, but military flights out continue.

[calimary]

19. Yet another keeper! Quite a thought-provoking read.

[ansible]

20. The evacuation isn't over yet, Taliban are already firing into crowds of people

How this ends is what matters

[gulliver]

23. She hit that one into orbit.

[Johonny]

24. While the media pisses in their pants, sleepy Joe has been getting the job done

in a bad situation.