Opinion: Biden made the hard choice in Afghanistan, and the right one

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Opinion by Jake Auchincloss
Yesterday at 3:35 p.m. EDT

Jake Auchincloss, a Marine veteran, is a Democrat representing Massachusetts’s 4th district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Before serving in Congress, I was an infantry platoon commander in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. In the summer of 2012, we patrolled three Taliban-contested villages on the Helmand River. On each patrol I would visit a tribal elder. They would serve me hot, sweet goat-milk tea. I would sip it in the 100-degree heat and smile politely. They would listen to me talk about the American mission and smile politely. Neither side could stomach it.

These Pashtun elders, veterans of the Soviet invasion and the civil war, were in a familiar bind. Taliban to their south, Americans to their north. Taliban conscripting their sons to plant IEDs; Americans demanding to know who planted them. My platoon and I were there for a summer, but the villagers would live with their decisions. One elder conveyed their wariness in an often-used expression: “You have the watches, but they have the time.” The Taliban could not outfight Americans, but it could outlast us, because we had no political endgame.

Counterinsurgencies are a political initiative with a military component. They require the regime in power to counter the insurgents with better governance. The Western-backed government in Kabul offered corruption and incompetence instead.

In situation room after situation room, the U.S. national security establishment made decisions based on sunk cost bias, not clear-eyed assessments of the national interest. For nearly two decades, the refrain was “more time, more troops, more treasure.” But they always knew better. The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction was blunt: “The American people have constantly been lied to” about Afghanistan.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/25/biden-made-hard-choice-afghanistan-right-one/

[lees1975]

1. Those who fail to learn lessons from history...

I hear the words of a song by Peter, Paul and Mary. How many times? When will we ever learn?

[McKim]

2. Yes He Did!!!

yes, he made the right choice and I totally support him. My brother in law died in Vietnam for a lie and the withdrawal from Afghanistan is, to our family, Biden's greatest achievement. He stood up like a man and said: "Enough!". This points the US in the right direction for our future foreign policy. For decades the US has been controlled by the MIC and our foreign policy was always at the other end of a gun. Now that is over, hopefully. It wasn't easy, wasn't pretty to face some real truths but he did it!!!! Bravo!!!!!! Now we can take our place in the family of nations in stream of being a bully. Now we can spend our precious tax dollars on OUR OWN PEOPLE!!!