My thoughts on the Middle-East have been pretty consistent., in that any hope of a stable area over there had the linchpin as Iraq. I think if we had committed to Iraq in a way we had with Japan and Germany, We would have had a country closer to Kuwait in governing, and headed in a faster pace than Kuwait toward more freedom. Once we pulled out of Iraq rather than continuing our presence there, all surrounding foreign policy was moot. Years and years ago I posted a short statement by KEN JOWITT that is still true today, but our chance to change the Middle-East was set on Iraq, in my opinion.
RELATED POST: Some SOFA/Iraq History (RPT FLASHBACK)
So, what I see Biden doing is both a horrible withdrawal as well as sending a message to our biggest enemies that we are weak. Before I show why I think both China and Russia will make some geo-political land grabs, here is an excellent article via PJ-MEDIA:
I’ve been fatalistic about the future of Afghanistan for so long now that I can barely remember when mission creep made our failure there a certainty.
Afghanistan isn’t a country. It’s a hole in the map where neighboring countries aren’t. Sometimes, a foreign power like Great Britain, the Soviet Union, or the United States will attempt to fill that hole. But as has been proven yet again, the hole labeled “Afghanistan” is essentially bottomless.
Absent occupying foreigners, Afghan localities typically rule themselves (badly) while the strongman-style central government tries to rule from Kabul (even more badly). In this age of renewed Islamic fundamentalism, the strongmen, local and central, were always going to be the meanest and most brutal fundamentalists.
Always.
Routing the Taliban in late 2001 was a necessary and proper response to the 9/11 attacks on this country. But there was never going to be a permanent fix.
Had President George W. Bush pulled us out when he damn well should have, in 2002 or ’03, the result would have been the same as it was on Sunday: a rapid takeover by the Taliban.
Had President Barack Obama pulled us out after killing Osama bin Laden in 2012, same result.
Had President Donald Trump pulled us out last year, yep, same thing.
But it didn’t have to be like this:
Dear God, not like this.
Presidentish Joe Biden told people just like the ones being shed from that cargo plane like so much detritus that he had a plan for getting them out.
He did not.
Biden told the world that we had weeks or even months to bring home those Afghans who had put their lives on the line to help our mission.
We did not.
In fact, the Biden administration gave the order that made the rapidity of this weekend’s Taliban takeover inevitable:
THIS is what people around the world will remember: that the United States left our Afghani friends and their families behind to be tortured and then slaughtered….
And the first to act? China… “China likely to recognize Taliban as Afghan rulers with fall of Kabul” (WASHINGTON EXAMINER). China is emboldened with US weakness in the region, the historic collapse of Afghanistan, and the frail puppet installed in Washington DC.
- On Monday Steve Bannon warned that the US economy will implode if Taiwan falls to the Communist Chinese. According to Bannon he entire American economy centers around the chips, and in particular, the advanced chips designed, made, and manufactured in Taiwan. (GATEWAY PUNDIT)
All this said, I doubt Biden and his VERY progressive team would even bother with unenforced red-lines like Obama.
And then there is this:
The Taliban seized a staggering quantity of American military vehicles, equipment, and weapons when it overran Afghanistan in a week.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat obsessed with gun control, ended up giving billions of dollars of American weapons to the Islamist fanatics who helped perpetrate 9/11.
Only a month ago, Biden was bragging about the terrific quality of the modern “tools, training, and equipment” sent to the Afghan military at the expense of U.S. taxpayers over the past two decades.
Biden scoffed at the notion of an easy Taliban victory on July 8:
Together, with our NATO Allies and partners, we have trained and equipped over three hu- — nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military — of the Afghan National Security Force, and many beyond that who are no longer serving. Add to that, hundreds of thousands more Afghan National Defense and Security Forces trained over the last two decades.
We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me emphasize: all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry. And we’re going to continue to provide funding and equipment. And we’ll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their air force.
“Do I trust the Taliban?” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question. “No. But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war.”…..
AMERICAN MILITARY NEWS has quite a few pics for the visually attentive:
On Friday, the Taliban seized control of Firoz Koh, the provincial capital of Ghor, Afghanistan, marking at least 17 Afghan provincial capitals the Taliban have seized in the span of a week. Videos and photos have surfaced on social media showing the Taliban taking over swaths of U.S.-donated military equipment that the Taliban is using to continue overtaking Afghanistan.
Taliban forces have reportedly captured around 100 U.S.-made Humvees and MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) as well as U.S. ScanEagle drones left behind and the Kunduz Airport.
The Taliban captured Kunduz Airport on Wednesday and on Thursday, German journalist Julian Röpcke tweeted, “The #Taliban not only seized appr. a hundred US humvees and (MaxxPro) MRAPs at Kunduz airport, but also several US ScanEagle drones. Billions of US tax payer $ going to Islamist extremists, thanks to the administration’s hasty withdrawal without a peace deal or follow up mission…..
