Let’s be clear…the withdrawal from Afghanistan is a total disaster and the Biden Administration is being severely criticized. But let’s also be clear about the cause for this mess. America’s longest war started out as revenge for the September 11, 2001 attacks. After 2 months, we had exacted a toll on the Taliban and Al Quaeda but decided to stay longer to help the locals end the terrorist threat on a more permanent basis by training and equipping an Afghan force. After 20 years of pouring military, financial and emotional aid into that country, we expected the rational law-abiding element to stand up for its rights and oppose terrorism. WE WERE WRONG. THE WELL-TRAINED WELL-FUNDED AFGHAN ARMY COLLAPSED IMMEDIATELY. This instant evaporation of defense could not have been predicted and what followed was an obvious calamity. In hindsight America needs to realize that involving itself in foreign armed conflicts is a no-win situation Think Vietnam. We can’t assume that civil liberty is a goal for daily routine in foreign cultures. If Afghanistan has any value it should have taught us that defending America does not include defending the world. We are not the planet’s police force. The Russians failed after 20 years of occupation in Afghanistan and that alone should have been a warning sign that long term involvement was futile.
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