OPINION:
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, I watched my brothers and sisters in arms deploy to Afghanistan. Twenty years later, I’m watching them deploy once again — but today, the situation is even more dire. For this, President Joe Biden is solely responsible.
At Monday’s White House briefing, Mr. Biden framed the situation as a choice between maintaining an indefinite presence in Afghanistan or withdrawing immediately and letting chaos ensue.
“I’m left again to ask of those who argue that we should stay: How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghans — Afghanistan’s civil war when Afghan troops will not?” he said. “How many more lives — American lives — is it worth? How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?”
He continued: “I will not repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past.”
But this argument is fallacious. The controversy does not revolve around the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, initiated by President Trump, and has drawn broad support among voters of both parties. The issue, as President Trump pointed out, is how we withdrew. Right now, 7,000 American troops are on their way back to Afghanistan—nearly three times the number stationed there before the withdrawal.
The fallout of Biden’s disastrous withdrawal has been swift and stunning. We’ve seen footage of desperate Afghans swarming the tarmac as the last American planes departed, clinging to jet wheels only to fall hundreds of feet to their deaths or be mangled in the landing gear, and escaping the country in an overloaded Air Force cargo plane. The Taliban is already rolling back women’s rights. Christians are being attacked. Afghans who worked with American forces have been hauled outside their homes and executed. The United States’ hasty withdrawal has sparked a humanitarian crisis.
The situation poses a threat to Americans as well. Thanks to our military’s forced hasty exit, the Taliban has seized billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded equipment: helicopters, Humvees, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), drones, and even “anti-aircraft guns, armored tanks, and artillery.” As Biden signaled his withdrawal, China stepped in and is poised to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, thereby strengthening its ties and growing its influence. In addition, the Taliban enjoys the strongest position it’s had since 2001.
Instead of expressing remorse, Biden has only doubled down on the withdrawal, saying he stands “squarely behind” his decision. “We were clear-eyed about the risks,” he said. “We planned for every contingency.” But despite quipping that the “buck stops with me,” Biden tried to blame the situation on President Trump and callously claimed that the Afghans simply lacked the will to fight. This does not bode well for other American allies—chiefly Israel and Taiwan.
Biden justified his reckless decision by saying he could not allow a fifth president to preside over a war in Afghanistan or continue sending American troops into harm’s way. But in doing so, he has erased 20 years of hard-won progress my fellow patriots paid for in blood.
Ironically, it’ll take a new generation of men and women in uniform to mend the damage of Biden’s botched withdrawal.
• Brett Velicovich is a former US Army special operations intelligence analyst and former Delta Force member. He served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with a specialty in counter-terrorism operations and drone strikes.
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