Go here to read the rest. Two decades of waste of American lives and treasure to prop up a regime that is folding in days against the rag tag Taliban. This debacle is one of the worst military and diplomatic disasters in American history. It warrants a searing debate. However, since the Democrats are in power, the media would prefer to chew ground glass rather than engage in questioning that would harm the Puppetmasters’ Administration.
Saigon Redux
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
No, it is not a military disaster. It is a political disaster, and it has been since the initial invasion; just like Iraq, and just like Vietnam. The military did as much as it was allowed to by the politicians, and more in many cases. This failure rests solely on the politicians. Some of those politicians may wear the uniform of the top brass, but the majority of those twits are political animals and NOT military leaders.
Biden is an embarrassing and incompetent imbecile. What a moronic thing to say on so many levels. How demoralising to those who lost their lives there. Words cannot fully express what a complete an utter failure he as an a leader.
I’d point out that we withdrew 97% of our troops from Iraq at the end of 2011 and the government is still there. The country suffered horrendously during the period from 2013 to 2017, but eventually with some help from abroad the back of ISIS was broken and the country is now quieter than it has been at any time since 2002. Somehow, our military was able to recruit and train a military and a police force in Iraq which can stand its ground and suppress violence. Not sure why this could not be accomplished in Afghanistan.
No, it is not a military disaster.
It is a military disaster in that the military was responsible for defeating the Taliban and training the Afghan military. Now perhaps these tasks were impossible, but when Trump wanted to withdraw the Generals fought him tooth and nail, and had nothing to offer but more of the same. If the strategy wasn’t working our military had 20 years to try new ones, and did not as far as I can see, except mini surges, imitating the strategy used in Iraq in very different circumstances. Of course this criticism does not detract from the valor of our troops. My targets are the Generals and not the lower ranks. If Generals do not do their jobs, the soldiers and Marines under them doing their jobs bleed and die in vane.
I went to the premier screening of the movie “Shepherds of Helmand” about an Oregon National Guard mission to Afghanistan to train the ANA. There was a discussion period afterwards with some of the members of that mission. The Afghan Nation National was and probably still is riddled with Taliban. They would ask “Who here is Taliban” and a substantial number of people would raise their hands. My memory wants to say half, but I’m not sure now. When they left on a mission the Taliban would immediately be alerted. They took to not giving any information to the ANA until they got where they were going. They never went to the ANA barracks out of concern for their safety. Drug abuse was rampant. Corruption was rampant. Taliban joined so their pay and sometimes their weapons and gear could be channeled to their clan. It was impossible to exclude the Taliban because of clan allegiances and clan alliances. The ANA would not fight initially. Towards the end of their deployment, they had managed to turn things around and successfully defended a town under attack. But that was thirteen years ago. One has to think there was troop turnover, and likely a return to the same issues the 41st Infantry soldiers faced in trying to turn their assigned unit into a fighting force. It’s impossible to defeat an enemy when half of the troops are actually on the other side.