OPINION:
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — the Taliban body tasked with making sure Sharia is upheld in Afghanistan — just announced a return to its previous policy of prohibiting the publication of images of living things, including in the media.
This is the same Taliban that said in 2021 it only wanted an “inclusive caretaker government” and that it wouldn’t launch terror attacks and that women’s rights would be upheld. Trust me, we’re from the Taliban, we’re here to help.
Nice job, Joe Biden. Great job, Kamala Harris. The botched withdrawal of Afghanistan has not just been an embarrassment to America; it’s been a total betrayal of American interests and allies.
That they’re still billing it a success is nothing short of gaslighting and lies.
“Biden calls Afghanistan withdrawal an ’extraordinary success,’” The Independent wrote in 2021.
“VP Harris Defends Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal,” ET Now wrote a month ago — as Harris seeks the high White House office.
“Harris Agrees With Biden’s Afghanistan Pullout, but Points Finger at Trump,” The Wall Street Journal wrote a month ago, too.
Great. That’s a campaign promise of more of the same.
And my, what a travesty that would be.
Just to remind — this was CNN, on July 8, 2021: “[Biden’s announced] hasty draw-down has coincided with major Taliban gains and a growing fear that without American military support, the Afghan government will collapse.”
Collapse it did.
Again, from CNN: “Biden … rejected comparisons … to the end of the Vietnam War, saying there was ‘no circumstance in which you are going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan.”
Right. Instead, they were left behind, and what the world saw were people clinging desperately to the airplane as it rolled down the runway to exit, stage left, as Taliban members took over Bagram Airfield.
Shortly after, the world also saw this: “U.S. ‘left behind’ 78,000 Afghan allies in chaotic withdrawal,” NBC News wrote in March of 2022. And this: “U.S. arms left in Afghanistan are turning up in a different conflict: Since falling into the hands of the Taliban, some of the weapons have been seized from militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir in what experts say could be just the start of their global journey,” NBC News wrote in January of 2023. And this: “The Taliban Are Now Arms Dealers: Terrorists are shopping for left-behind American weapons and turning them against Washington’s friends around the world,” Foreign Policy wrote in July of 2023.
Oh, make it stop.
The reverberations of the horrible, terrible, botched, feckless, hasty, Biden-Harris withdrawal will no doubt go forth for years in ways that will be difficult to measure. The message of American weakness alone under this administration contributed to the spark of Russia-Ukraine; Hamas-Israel; Hezbollah-Israel; Iran-Israel. But the military equipment left behind in Afghanistan — $7 billion worth, according to one Pentagon estimate — is going to be used and reused and shared and repurposed for terror-tied reasons for who knows how long in who knows how many places.
That’s success, Biden-Harris style.
“Some Afghan soldiers told CNN they only found out the Americans were leaving the very day … One senior officer said he was notified … that his forces had less than 24 hours to secure the perimeter of the base,” CNN wrote in July of 2021.
One more reverberation: “When the US left Kabul, these Americans tried to help Afghans left behind. It still haunts them,” The Associated Press wrote this past August.
Here’s an excerpt: “For Americans involved in this ad hoc effort [to help the allies left behind], the war has reverberated through their lives, weighed on their relationships, caused veterans to question their military service and in many cases left a scar as ragged as any caused by bullet or bomb. Most are tired. Many are angry. They grapple with what it means for their nation that they, ordinary Americans moved by compassion and gratitude and by shame at what they consider their government’s abandonment of countless Afghan allies, were the ones left to get those Afghans to safety,” AP reported.
But safety couldn’t come.
Safety wasn’t available.
Safety left the room when Team Biden pulled out and abandoned those who stood by America for so many years and helped and assisted the U.S. military members who were stationed in Afghanistan for the righteous cause of keeping terrorists from taking over and seizing liberties.
What a sad situation, made even sadder by the Taliban’s recent instructions for the people of Afghanistan, including members of state media, to stop publishing and posting and showing images of people and animals. Censorship is the tool of the tyrant.
Expect both censorship and tyranny to expand.
The only thing sadder would be if the American people forgot the failed leadership of this White House on Afghanistan and voted in the person, Harris, who to this day continues to defend the failures — meaning, more would come under her leadership.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on X @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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