By Paul Mirengoff | POWERLINE
But Afghans were willing to fight against the Taliban and
to die doing so. That’s why the Taliban was never able to take over major population
centers, not even when the U.S. force diminished to somewhere between
2,500-3,500. All they required of us was that we maintain something like that
level of commitment.
Moreover, if this is Biden’s rationale for the pullout,
it’s inconsistent with what he has been saying about the situation. Biden
famously said things wouldn’t deteriorate to the point where they resembled
Vietnam. This prediction entails a scenario in which the Afghans would fight
reasonably hard.
So which is it? Did we quit because we thought the
Afghans could resist or did we quit because we should not help an army that
isn’t willing to resist?
I say we quit because Biden decided we should without
giving the matter much thought.
As for the way the disaster is playing out in Kabul,
Biden again blamed the Afghans:
I know there are concerns about why we did
not begin evacuating Afghan civilians sooner. Part of the answer is some of the
Afghans did not want to leave earlier, still hopeful for their country. And
part of it is because the Afghan government and its supporters discouraged us
from organizing a mass exodus to avoid triggering, as they said, a crisis of
confidence.
This implies that we at least got all of the Americans
out safely. Did we? We’ll see.
As for the Afghans, Biden’s excuses were contradicted by
No One Left Behind, an advocacy group for former interpreters. Its chairman
said:
We adamantly disagree with the President’s
assertion that some SIV [special immigrant visa] recipients wanted to stay in
Afghanistan.
I believe him. For one thing, Biden is a liar. For
another, it’s implausible to believe that an appreciable number of those who
helped the U.S. to the point where they could receive the special visas wanted
to hang around.
Biden might have been stupid enough to believe they had a
future in Afghanistan, but I doubt many of the interpreters and others who
helped us believed this.
Afghanistan crisis: Striking visual shows over 600
Afghans packed inside US military plane to flee Taliban takeover – Times of
India
Images and facts on the ground speak louder than words, and certainly louder than the utterances of someone like Joe Biden. If Biden thinks he can talk his way out of responsibility for this debacle, he’s likely to be disappointed.
