President Joe Biden stepped on the booby trap that collapsed Afghanistan in on itself, but the trap had been set by his predecessor, President Donald J. Trump.
The author of The Art of the Deal (assuming he wrote it himself) set the trap by “dealing” with the religious fanatical Taliban, cutting the Afghan government out of the talks, thus sending the unintentional but probably correct message that the U.S. had no real respect for the government headed by what’s-his-name. (His name is Ashraf Ghani.)
A cat has a better idea of what’s inside a tin of Puss’n Boots than Trump had of what was going on in Afghanistan.
When he cut a separate deal with the turbaned maniacs, he got nothing concrete from them, he sidelined Ghani, he cut the heart out of the military, and gave a withdrawal timeline to the Taliban so they could wait us out, which is exactly what they did.
After a weekend of watching Afghanistan collapse like a sand castle in a squall, because of his actions, Biden emerged from hiding to address the nation at the odd time of 4 p.m. It could not be less of a prime time.
Was it timed as a courtesy for the evening newscast? Was it chosen because it’s a time when people are at work and not engaged? Was it because (as right wing nuts believe) Biden loses his ability to concentrate after dinner time?
In a dark blue suit over a white shirt and gray tie, he spoke for about 20 minutes and took no questions. He also took no blame.
The best argument he made: It is wrong for him to ask Americans to fight for Afghanistan when Afghans will not fight for themselves, That is a powerful argument.
His worst argument was the claim that “we planned for every contingency.”
The last person to use that line was George Custer.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Biden dismissed the idea of Afghanistan collapsing as “highly unlikely.”
That was shortly after he rejected the advice of his generals to go slow in removing troops.
He blamed Trump for sticking him with a bad deal with the Taliban. Biden could have torn it up, as Trump did with the Paris climate accords.
Doing that might have ended the cease fire, he said, even though the U.S. ended “combat missions” years ago.
He said the U.S. was moving quickly to “execute plans we had in place.”
The problem is this: Our embassy is closed, operations have shifted to the airport, and video showed the chaos there.
He said that what is happening now could have happened five years ago, or could happen 15 years from now.
But it didn’t happen 5 years ago, and with better leadership, it might not happen 15 years from now.
He correctly noted that our goal was to overthrow the Taliban, pursue Osama bin Laden, and make sure Afghanistan would not be used by terrorists.
We succeeded.
But with our departure, and the religious fanatics in charge, can we count on the Taliban’s word not to support terrorists?
Let me remind the eternal optimists: The Taliban have a great deal more in common with their fellow Islamists than they do with us, the Crusaders.
Thanks to the blunders of Trump and Biden, Afghanistan is back in play.
Dumb and dumber.
HAPPY MONDAY !!!
Pallie,
As almost always, you are correct in pointing fingers at our last two Presidents. In my never humble opinion, you should have counted backwards a few more times.
Once again I will say this. The world does not love us. Will probably never love us. And they certainly don’t want to be like us.
The Middle Easterns have been fighting each other since before recorded time. European Nations fought each other throughout millennia until the Russians took away their guns and their freedom. These same nations picked up their guns and hatred of each other when the ‘Iron Curtain” collapsed.
My point. If the world wants us to police this world, then they should foot the bill. We don’t need partner nations to keep the peace. We need the authority to do that job. Sorry to say. That will never happen. The politicians here and other nations, insist on meddling in some place that they have no business.
My advice now. Put our military on high alert. Give them the authority to protect us from the terrorists that are here now and the ones to come. And they will come.
Many have said, take the fight to them over there, before they will bring the fight to us.
Tony
So you would remove all our troops from everywhere, so we are not policing the world?
I’m trying to figure out if you are Russian or Chinese, those who would benefit most.
In global terms, you are saying “defund the police.”
HAPPY TUESDAY !!!
( sic ) Close Stu. I’m “Russnese “!
We are in several countries, as everyone knows. These host countries do not pay for our policing their countries. We, in fact, do not police these countries. A completely different message. You do realize that we live in a complicated world. We have been in these countries for more than75 years. The original deployment certainly is different than our presence there today. I’m sure that you are aware of our military bases throughout Europe. We are also on every continent as a ‘good neighbor’ rather than a show of strength.
I was addressing the problem that exists in particular, the middle east. It is also rampant in parts of the African continent and the Philippines to name two more ‘hot’ areas. We have had troops in these areas for years. We keep adding more troops. What was kept secretive or quiet, is now out there in the airways.
Tony
I believe the only way to deal with those nuts over there is to send them a simple message: if ONE attack is made on the USA that can be traced to the Taliban, then the USA will turn the entire area into a pool of molten glass. I suspect that will never happen, and not too far down the road another 9/11 will happen, only worse. Those crazies over there are EXACTLY like the crazies I read about every day in the Old Testament.
Vince – I was just about to throw out a similar comment, when I spotted yours. We certainly do have a way to take care of the problem, but that wouldn’t be very “American” of us. On the other hand, it worked with Japan quite well, and there was an immediate surrender. But, just like you can’t fix stupid, it’s even more impossible trying to fix religious fanatical crazy.
Johnny Joey Jones is a Fox News contributor who also happens to be an Afghanistan veteran.
Jones endured two combat deployments (Iraq and Afghanistan) and eight years of active service in the Marine Corps, serving as a bomb technician. Jones suffered a life-changing injury while deployed to Afghanistan, resulting in the loss of both of his legs.
Needless to say, Jones has unique insight to share when it comes to current events, and spoke on Outnumbered Monday about serving with two men who didn’t manage to make it home.
“Let me say I lost my legs in Afghanistan. It was an absolute blessing to come home and I know that every day. I don’t hold that against any president or the Taliban or anyone. I am at a full peace with it. I am honored to have served in Afghanistan. I believe my work there helped people come home safe and that matters to me. But I wanted to take an opportunity I think we have some pictures to talk about couple of men I fought alongside and didn’t come home.
The first was corporal Daniel Greer. He was a full-time fireman and decided to join the marine reserves and become an engineer which is not an easy job. He thought it was his duty as an American to fight a war to protect our country and seek revenge for 9/11. Daniel was killed by the IED that took my legs. He didn’t make it home. We were injured on August 6 and he took his last breath on August 8th while we were in Germany together. He is a hero. We cannot, cannot forget Daniel and the thousands just like him they gave their last breath so that we could stay safe for at least 20 years.
Another person I would like to honor is a Gunnery Sgt. Floyd Holley. He was a marine EOD tech and a mentor to me and I think we’ve got a picture of him as well. A couple things about him. He was killed two weeks after I was injured covering the IED’s that I would’ve been working. My accident led directly to his death. Floyd and I had a conversation just before he went on the operation that took his life and my legs. He had a daughter that wasn’t born yet and wouldn’t be born until after his death. I asked him, do you wanted to be a boy or girl and he looks at me and goes, I don’t care with the baby is as long as it’s healthy and happy and I get to be there to see it born. That was Floyd. That was the last meaningful thing he said to me. It stuck with me ever since.
I have a daughter now and every time I look at her I think about Floyd and his two daughters. All I can think is that these men sacrificed not just their lives but when you sacrifice your life, you sacrifice every single minute and day you would’ve stayed on this Earth making an impact in other people’s lives. As mad and frustrated as I am today I just hope the American people understand these people died for you. Let’s make this world a better place and select leaders that are leaders and not just politicians. As much as we want to complain, may be lets look forward and look for the right people to do the right things. We haven’t had much of that in a while.”
Corporal Daniel Greer. Gunnery Sargent Floyd Holley.
say there names out loud.
NEVER FORGET
You are so correct. President Biden needed to discard the “deal” President Trump made with the Taliban terrorists. We needed to keep a strong military presence in Afghanistan. Now they will cause immense suffering.
Trump’s deal with the Taliban had conditions – including a key one of working out a power-sharing agreement which the Taliban didn’t. So Biden, who did change the exit date from May to September, could have shut down that deal faster than you can say Keystone XL Pipeline. (And my gut feeling is Trump would not have given up Bagram airbase against his generals’ advice with thousands and thousands of Americans still in Afghanistan, but then I’m a Trump fanatic.)