Jennifer Rubin: President Biden gave the best possible defense of his Afghanistan withdrawal

Washington Post

Much of the news media is irresponsibly second-guessing and blaming President Biden for the debacle in Afghanistan. Just as irresponsible in doing so as the GOP. Are regular Americans capable of seeing through this garbage? Jennifer Rubin - 

President Biden’s case for the fruitlessness of a continued military mission in Afghanistan got a boost as the Afghan army melted away, and its leaders fled practically overnight. During remarks from the White House on Monday, Biden made a strong point — one likely to find receptive ears among voters — that he refuses to maintain the lie to Americans that victory is around the corner. 

"We gave [Afghans] every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for their future,” Biden said. He argued, “If Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that . . . one more year, five more years or 20 more years of U.S. military boots on the ground would have made any difference.” Americans who are disgusted watching Afghan forces cut deals with the Taliban and flee will likely share that view. 

If Biden got something wrong, it is that he gave too much credence to military leaders who had assured him that the situation in Afghanistan was improving. He wisely conceded the collapse of the Afghan forces happened faster than expected. The assumption that Afghan military forces would survive more than a week was as flawed as the assessments of the 20-year conflict. 

The assumption that Afghan helpers are already lost to the butchery of the Taliban, however, smacks of defeatism. The United States must deploy sufficient troops and conduct a massive rescue of the tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans. Indeed, Biden vowed in his address: “We’re taking over air traffic control. . . . Over the coming days, we intend to transport out thousands of American citizens who have been living and working in Afghanistan,” he vowed. “We will also continue to support the safe departure of the civilian personnel of our allies.” The president’s success in pulling this off will determine how history judges his decision. 

The pronouncement from many in the media that the United States has abandoned Afghan allies is premature — the sort of snap judgment common on Twitter but utterly inappropriate in assessing a war in which virtually ever actor has been responsible for gross errors. Could the administration at least be given a chance to try to rescue Afghans, in concert with allies? Could it compensate its wrongfully rosy projections on how long Afghan security forces would last by sending additional forces to remain until we remove our Afghan partners? That’s what Biden proposes; we should pray he follows through. (Read more)

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