Before I dig in…I’m just going to leave this here as our thesis statement for today:
I saw Patrick tweet that a couple of weeks ago and as hard as I tried…Ihonestly couldn’t come up with a valid counter-argument to it. I still can’t.
And while he was talking about Joe Biden (trust me, Patrick isn’t exactly the president of the Biden Fan Club), that tweet could also apply to Donald Trump as he was the one who set the wheels in motion for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
I don’t say that as a pat on the back to Biden or Trump. I say that so that we can take partisanship off the table. I don’t care who gets credit — leaving Afghanistan is the best single thing a president has done in the last 50 (75?) years.
For those of you too young to remember, 2001 was a really weird time. The internet was still relatively new. Cable news was just starting to take off as a 24-hour cancer (more on that later). The extreme tribalism we’re living in today was in its infancy.
And then came 9/11.
As sad and horrible as that day was, it was also the day that this country collectively lost its mind.
People we’re (rightfully) pissed. Scared. Bewildered. Every emotion you can think of. And about 90 percent of the country wanted blood. Which, sidenote, is basically the only way you can explain the majority of Americans thinking George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Rudy Giuliani were the *good* guys.
Anyway, the Neocons pounced on the opportunity and basically took us to war within a week by passing the AUMF (Authorisation of Use of Military Force). Three weeks later, we were bombing the shit out of Afghanistan (and we wouldn’t stop for another 20 years).
At the time, it seemed like a noble goal — strike back at the terrorists (Al Qaeda) and their enablers (the Taliban) who harbored them. Get in, kill Bin Laden (who we basically created, but that’s another topic for another day), and get the hell out. Simple enough, right?
Turns out, it wasn’t so simple.
We bombed this shit out of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and basically accomplished what we went to Afghanistan for by taking back control of the country. (though we didn’t kill Bin Laden).
If you’re old enough to remember 2001, you’ll probably remember seeing this artist rendering of Bin Laden’s “mountain fortress” in Tora Bora. I remember seeing it in the Boston Globe and thinking “Wow! This is going to be tougher than I thought.”
Turns out it wasn’t real. The cave systems that Al Qaeda used weren’t even close to this sophisticated and (in a harbinger of things to come), was spread like wildfire in the media as justification as to why we had to stay and continue to search for Bin Laden while ensuring Al Qaeda couldn’t regroup.
Anyway, I’m not here for a history lesson on the war, but I wanted to provide a little context as to how we got from essentially what was “Mission Accomplished” (minus Bin Laden) to where we are TWENTY years later — and then loop back to our thesis statement.
I know a lot of people (from both parties) are pissed about how the last few weeks went down. And I don’t want to downplay the absolutely miserable situation a lot of Afghans find (and will find) themselves in now that the US is leaving. It’s horrible, and it’s very sad.
But a few things in response to that:
Things haven’t been good with the US in Afghanistan (the most civilians deaths occurred a few years ago. We’ve been droning the crap out of that poor country. So sure, it’s not going to be *good* that we’re leaving. But it’s not like things were good with us there either. The Taliban is regressive, awful, and every other descriptor along those lines that you can think of. But here’s what was happening while we were there:
A lot of Afghans *want* us gone. We aligned with some of the most corrupt people possible over the last 20 years and the average person in Afghanistan basically got to choose between being scared of dying from the Taliban or from a US bomb. Don’t believe me? Look how quickly the Afghan army surrendered to the Taliban.
What’s the end game? We’ve been in Afghanistan for 20 years and things have arguably gotten worse. What are we supposed to do — spend another 20 years there?
Also, what did we get for the 20 years of war, tens of thousands of American and Afghan lives lost, and trillions (with a T) of dollars spent? If anything, we probably created *more* terrorists.
And Bin Laden wasn’t even in Afghanistan for most of the time we were looking for him anyway! He was hiding (being harbored by?) right under the nose of an American ally whom we give billions of dollars to.
Again, I feel for the people of Afghanistan. I really do.
But I’m not sure what else we can do at this point. Between poverty, covid, homelessness, the opioid crisis, a healthcare crisis, seemingly worse impact of climate change by the day, unemployment, low wages, income inequality, a massive education issue, and on an on and on…America has its own problems that we can’t even begin to solve. Or even agree that they exist. Who are we to say we can solve what’s going on in Afghanistan?
There’s a civil war going on in Afghanistan (people realize that the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS-K aren’t the same groups, right? Right?!?). We can’t referee that. These are issues for the international community to solve (though I don’t have much faith in that). But this isn’t an issue America can solve. I know that might hurt the feelings of anyone who believes in American exceptionalism. But it’s the cold hard truth. It’s time to look inward and admit failure.
We lost. Sorry, but we did. Just like we lost the Iraq War, and the Vietnam War, and the Korean War. We haven’t won a war since World War II, and it’s time to admit we’re not capable of being the world police.
And to loop back to the original point. Leaving is the right move. And like Patrick said, the best move a president has made in the past 50-plus years.
Could the withdrawal have gone better? ABSOLUTELY.
Could literally everything that has ever happened gone better? Also ABSOLUTELY.
But hand-wringing over exactly how the withdrawal went down is like being mad at a firefighter who rescued you from a burning building because you got a minor burn.
And to end this what-has-become-way-longer-than-I-intended post, I close with this:
To the media: I’m not sure if you’re dying for ratings or if you’re being paid off by the Military Industrial Complex, but stop this nonsense. This is an insanely popular decision that has polled extremely well across parties for the past 10 years. Multiple presidents from both parties have run on this issue!
To the current and former generals all over the news: Why are we listening to you again? You’ve been wrong about EVERYTHING for the past 20 years. Shut the fuck up.
To Republicans: Trump was leaving too! You don’t get to score political points on Biden because you don’t like the manner in which he left. And let’s not pretend Trump wouldn’t have done something stupid to get a reporter beheaded or something. You and I both know that’s exactly what would’ve happened.
To Democrats: Do you want Trump back in office? Stop criticizing your guy for doing the right thing! You might as well put a Trump 2024 sticker on your car and start wearing a MAGA hat if you’re going to continue splitting hairs over an impossible situation. Stop it.
That’s it for me for today, but if you somehow made it this far, I’ll leave you with three jumping off points if you want to continue down the Afghanistan rabbit hole:
The best podcast I’ve heard about the withdrawal to date, featuring someone who was there and in a relatively high position.
A very underrated second season (in my opinion) of Serial that covers the Beau Bergdahl fiasco — and paints a very dysfunctional picture of what we were doing in Afghanistan.
An interesting article about how Bush’s response to 9/11 helped lead to Trump.
Look at your young men fighting…
Look at your women crying…
Look at your young men dying…
The way they've always done before...
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