There's chaos and risk in Afghanistan exit, but Biden critics are getting it mostly wrong

[CousinIT]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/08/29/afghanistan-war-exit-joe-biden-critics-wrong/5639051001/

David Rothkopf
Opinion columnist

The intellectual dishonesty in critiques of how President Joe Biden is handling the U.S. departure from Afghanistan has been off the charts. That's not to say some of them are not warranted. They certainly are. The swift fall of Kabul to the Taliban was predictable, and there is a case that we should have been better prepared for it. And there is no doubt that the risks we faced were great, as shown by the Kabul airport attack last week that claimed the lives of at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops.

But some of the arguments we are hearing are indefensible. Among the worst:

1. Biden owns this.

No. The authors of 20 years of war own this. The corrupt Afghan government and the Afghan military who stood down own this. The Trump administration that set the deadlines, drew down the troops, left behind the materiel and released up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners owns this.

2. Well, at least he owns the chaos surrounding our exit.

No. There's no way that the Taliban regaining control would not have led to chaos with many thousands of Afghans seeking to escape the rule of a thug regime. Whenever we began to airlift folks out, it would have started.

3. Well, at least he should have been better prepared for the chaos.

I'm going to give you this one, but it should be noted that efforts to prepare were rebuffed. The Afghan government did not want the United States beginning mass evacuations for the reasons cited in No. 2.

. . .

[Wingus Dingus]

1. I agree with Rothkopf, the bashing is over the top.

[Me.]

2. Peter Baker The Shill Should Read This

[sprinkleeninow]

3. Correct. The authors of this 20 year bad mistake war own it as does FF45.

I read way back when: 'It should've been a multi-nation police action, not military.'

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. I agreed with and made that argument here on DU (with different handle) back then (nt)

[sprinkleeninow]

6. I don't recall how that came to me. It may very well have been you on DU!

I initially joined up in Spring of 2002, IIRC, with a different screen name. Then just read pretty much when my mom came up to live near us. Re-joined after that 2016 devastating general election result.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

7. I'm not saying I came up with the idea originally, but I did agree/argue for it

Old-Timer

[sprinkleeninow]

8. I inferred that. But you may have been the conduit of that smart proposal for me!

Backatcha, golden and seasoned one!

[sprinkleeninow]

10. Mea culpa. Mb y'all not seasoned yet. Golden, yes!

[CousinIT]

5. RELATED: Who are Biden's critics? Many of the media's 'experts' are on the MIC dole . . .

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215794035

[andym]

9. "The swift fall of Kabul to the Taliban was predictable,.." Yes, but

If US intelligence really believed that Kabul, and shortly before that the other major cities, would fall while the US was still evacuating, I believe that President Biden would have ordered a different course of action to avoid the numerous problems we are seeing.

That is not to say the US would not be leaving, but greater support would have been given to the Afghan army and that might have meant temporarily increasing forces there, and the timetable of withdrawal would have been reset to correspond more closely with the national reconciliation talks that were ongoing (and included the Taliban).

What happened was that US intelligence did not correctly conclude that the psychological factor of US support was so critical to the Afghan military and that it would be so dispirited by Taliban victoires to consider the whole fight a lost cause. Probably the fall of Kandahar made the rapid fall of the other cities including Kabul possible.

[treestar]

11. Democrats are held to a standard of perfection

Republican President could have exactly the same thing going on and it would be just fine with the media.

[sprinkleeninow]

13. They would be loudly and disgustingly spewing that their decision and method of withdrawal

is the best that anyone has ever seen ever.

[comradebillyboy]

12. Getting out of Afghanistan is overwhelmingly popular.

Once we've been out for a few months the MSM will have moved on to something else. Also I would hope that covid is on the wane by next spring.

Biden can take credit for ending an unpopular war and dealing competently with covid. He can take credit for the very popular bipartisan infrastructure bill.

But The President and his fellow Democrats need to be hitting the Republicans every day for their hypocrisy and failures. Once the bipartisan infrastructure bill passes it will be time to attack the pukes on all fronts every day.

[Elessar Zappa]

17. Yup.

I really believe the infrastructure bills will be hugely popular but the Dems need to get out there and promote it and make clear that most Republicans opposed it every step of the way.

[July]

14. As to #3:

Important weeks of preparation on all matters were lost when Trump and his people refused to follow tradition (and common sense) by getting Biden and his team up to speed in the transition period of over two months after the election.

[crickets]

15. I hadn't heard of David Rothkopf before the last week or so,

but he is everywhere now, pushing against the "blame Biden" narrative. He's making accurate, cogent arguments and doing absolutely great work getting his points across again and again. Kudos.

[CousinIT]

18. Rothkopf is a worthy follow - have had him on my shortlist for a few years.

"Testosterone is the most effective solvent for human brain tissue. Just a drop or two can render a perfectly functional human cortex completely stupid. As evidence, I offer all of human history."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/08/08/decoding-the-ancient-logic-of-the-google-bro/

[Mr.Bill]

16. Every time Trump says he could have handled this better,

remember to ask why didn't he? He had four years. Also remind yourself that whether he did it back then, or if he was still president and was doing it now, it's likely some moron like Jerod Kushner would be in charge. Don't forget, Kushner was in charge of bringing peace to the middle east. Heckuva job, Jerod.

[Poiuyt]

19. I hope everyone over at CNN reads this

I'm guessing they won't though.