Biden’s Afghan withdrawal debacle that the press wants to ignore
Mr. Biden wanted out by the 20th anniversary of 9/11 for the political symbolism, and he imposed his own catastrophic political timetable. He owns that choice and the deaths of 13 Americans.
The following article from the WSJ's Editorial Board presents information that has received limited coverage in left-leaning media outlets. It follows up on a recent post featuring Dave Belton's analysis of the deaths of 13 American service members during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The article provides additional context to the ongoing discussion about this disastrous event and its implications.
The Long Shadow of Biden’s Afghan Withdrawal Debacle
The WSJ Editorial Board - Sept. 9, 2024
A damning House report reveals details and consequences that the press wants to ignore.
A House committee has released a report on the Biden Administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021, and the press is dismissing the effort as partisan. But credit to GOP Rep. Michael McCaul for adding to public knowledge about a debacle whose consequences continue to harm U.S. security and bear on the stakes in November’s election.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee report is a 350-page indictment of President Biden’s choices at every point, a portrait of a Commander in Chief “determined to withdraw.” A litany of military advisers counseled that the Afghan government would collapse if the U.S. removed the small complement of 2,500 troops in country.
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who ran U.S. Central Command at the time, told the committee “he was unequivocal in his advice to the president.” Mr. Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan conducted a review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan—and allowed Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to attend merely “a single NSC deputies meeting,” the report says. Mr. Sullivan comes in for particular criticism.
The Administration also failed to plan properly for the possible evacuation of Americans. The committee “uncovered that the size of the U.S. Embassy Kabul instead grew during the retrograde,” owing to “a dogmatic insistence” on keeping a diplomatic footprint.
The report says “a significant amount of classified information was left to the Taliban” in the eventual rush to leave. U.S. personnel recalled a scramble to destroy documents and a bonfire in the Embassy courtyard.
The President’s refusal to maintain 2,500 troops meant the U.S. abandoned Bagram Air Base with its secure runway. That meant the evacuation had to be conducted in a panic from Kabul’s civilian airport, with security assistance from the Taliban. That nightmare resulted in 13 dead American service members from a suicide bomber. The report says “at least four Afghan civilians, including children,” fell to their deaths clinging to departing U.S. planes. The White House hailed the evacuation as if it were a Dunkirk-style triumph, when it was really a chaotic humiliation.
The Biden Team says Donald Trump left them little option after he negotiated a deal in 2020 with the Taliban to withdraw in 2021. As we said at the time, Mr. Trump struck a bad deal—not least in excluding the Afghan government from the talks.
But Mr. Biden has shown no such deference to Mr. Trump’s other policies, and the Taliban was violating its Doha promises in any case. Mr. Biden wanted out by the 20th anniversary of 9/11 for the political symbolism, and he imposed his own catastrophic political timetable. He owns that choice.
The press is wrong to consider this old news because the U.S. is still living with the damaging consequences. The report says the Taliban is even now holding seven American citizens, and the fate of Afghan women is horrific. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is again becoming a haven for the jihadists of ISIS-K and al Qaeda. The Islamic State attacks on Moscow and Iran could be preludes to an attack on U.S. targets. The Biden Administration “has not conducted a single strike against ISIS-K since 2021,” the report says.
More broadly, the Afghan withdrawal marked the end of credible American deterrence during the Biden Presidency. You can draw a straight line from the withdrawal to Vladimir Putin’s decision to roll into Ukraine, or why the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen aren’t afraid to fire missiles at commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Vice President Kamala Harris has trumpeted that she was the last person in the room when Mr. Biden decided to withdraw. What did she tell him? Mr. Trump or the moderators at Tuesday’s debate should ask Ms. Harris whether she still stands by Mr. Biden’s decision.
The most important duty of the next President is restoring U.S. deterrence to prevent a larger war. If Ms. Harris defends Biden’s withdrawal, then we’ll know she doesn’t understand the dangerous world we live in.
13 Dead American Service Members:
(Left to right, top to bottom) Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover
