Three years out - The successful Afghanistan withdrawal

"The chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal."

The media has decided that this is how the event will forever be referred to.

They're lying and America's been duped.

One of Biden's great successes and an act of incredible political courage has been turned into its exact opposite.

Here's a concise summary of what happened, courtesy of Kevin Drum (The sound you just heard was David Schmidt's ears perking up. Expect a fact check later in the day.

And no, that first sentence below was not written by me, though it certainly could have been.

Regular readers know that I've long been annoyed by the relentless use of the word chaotic to describe the Afghanistan withdrawal. Of course it was chaotic. It's like saying the D-Day landings were chaotic. There's no way anyone conducts an airlift of 100,000 people in a neat and orderly way from a city that's just been overthrown by the Taliban.

In any case, since it's back in the news it's worth reviewing how the Afghanistan withdrawal played out:

1. In early 2020 Donald Trump negotiated with the Taliban for a withdrawal date of May 1, 2021, and the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government.
2. Over the next year Trump pushed hard to reduce US troop levels. By the end of his term he had reduced the US presence to 2,500 troops.
3. When Joe Biden took office, he moved the withdrawal date out to September 11. Trump criticized the change. "We can and should get out earlier," he said.
4. In July Biden changed the withdrawal date to August 31. At this point, the Taliban was fighting but hadn't yet taken over a single province. The broad assumption was that when the US withdrawal eventually took place the Afghan government would still control the country. The US, naturally, was committed to protecting the government through the withdrawal.
5. That changed suddenly because the Afghan army collapsed faster than anyone expected. On August 15 the Taliban took over Kabul and the president of Afghanistan fled the country. With only two weeks to go, this made a large-scale evacuation imperative.
6. The withdrawal started chaotically, but within a few hours the Army restored order. Meanwhile, despite the Trump administration's longtime policy of delaying visa requests, which left a huge backlog of unprocessed applications, the State Department worked heroically to process visas for Afghans who wanted to leave the country.
7. In two weeks, the Army evacuated about 90% of Americans in Afghanistan and nearly 100,000 Afghan nationals. By any kind of historical standard, this was a superb performance under the most difficult circumstances imaginable

The entire operation had only one serious failure: the death of 13 American service members (and 170 Afghans) to an al-Qaeda suicide bomber at Abbey Gate. Multiple investigations by the Pentagon concluded that there wasn't really anything that could have stopped it.

Everyone processes grief differently, and I can't bring myself to reproach the families that blame Biden for the deaths of their children. But the fact remains that Biden wasn't at fault; the Army wasn't at fault; and deaths in the line of duty are a natural occurrence in war.

The withdrawal wasn't handled perfectly, but there weren't any huge mistakes. Nor was it really possible not to withdraw given the situation Biden inherited: the Taliban's takeover was inevitable as soon as Trump signed the withdrawal agreement with them. It might well have been inevitable even without that. After 20 years it was as clear as it could be that there was simply no more the US could do, and Biden showed a lot of political courage in facing up to that.

In the end, despite everything, the evacuation and airlift were considerable successes—and it's remarkable that the only serious casualties came from a single al-Qaeda suicide bomber. The blame for that rests squarely on al-Qaeda and no one else.

I know I'm repeating this, but it can't be said often enough. Not one critic of the withdrawal, not one, has ever offered an alternative plan that would have worked "better" than what Biden did. And that's assuming that a better way was even possible.

Biden should be lauded for exiting this disaster of a war that he had little to do with in the first place. It should be seen as one of the signature successes of his administration, and we should all be very grateful that he had the guts to do it.

It's a crime that we believe the exact opposite.

And it's an even bigger crime that Trump got away with leaving a huge mess that Biden had to clean up. Details in the next post.

I've not checked each of the claims below, but they seem pretty accurate based on what I remember. The two I'm not sure about are the ones about the May 1st date and  the lack of Biden getting briefed during the transition, though there is no doubt that Trump in general refused to cooperate during the transition, so it's probably true. And yet again, this is another huge act of irresponsibility that Trump has gotten away scot free from.

And I do not agree with the characterization that Trump "murdered Sgt. Gee."

I would recommend some WD 40 for ears that creak while perking up…

Anyway, let’s say trump had won a second term, can you imagine the flustercluck that would have ensued in Kabul??? I think in a lot of ways this country is blessed with having about 60% of its population with functioning BS radars…

Here's an article about the lack of briefing by the Trump admin. (Not my most favorite source, but they're occasionally OK.)

https://www.axios.com/2021/08/17/biden-trump-afghanistan-evacuation-blame

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

mtierney said:

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

it's always terrible when people die in war. 

But how many more military and civilians would have lost their lives if the U.S. forces remained in Afghanistan? If they were still there today. 

Almost certainly more than 13. 

mtierney said:

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

Nobody believes for a moment you care.

ml1 said:

mtierney said:

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

it's always terrible when people die in war. 

But how many more military and civilians would have lost their lives if the U.S. forces remained in Afghanistan? If they were still there today. 

Almost certainly more than 13. 

Its sad that 13 died but unsurprisingly right wing pundits and politicians are making political hay of that. What don't they politicize? The Afghanistan withdrawal? Bhengazi? Arlington Cemetery? The honored dead are nothing but fodder for their ambition.

Whereupon, we have 40% of their sheepish population reliably repeating their narratives. Logic or critical thinking being of no use against stupidity.

As ml1 pointed out continuing the Afghanistan quagmire would have resulted in more death than the 13.

PVW said:

Nobody believes for a moment you care.

How, from your lofty perch above, can you explain this….

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nbc-correction-harris/2024/09/02/id/1178755/

I’m truly sorry those 13 service members died. It’s horrible what happened and nobody anticipated how quickly the Taliban forces would overrun the country and the Afghan Security Forces. Certainly the Trump administration didn’t foresee it when they made the deal that led to the inevitable withdrawal in 2021. 

Did the Bush administration foresee this result when they started this war in 2001?  Did they foresee the deaths of over 3,500 coalition forces, over 2,400 of whom were Americas?  Which doesn’t include the deaths of over 3,900 civilian contractors, by the way. Or the 66,000 Afghan security forces who died?

Somehow the 13 who were tragically killed in 2021 are important for Republicans to talk about. Because they can pin that on Biden somehow even though it was Herr Kommandant Cheeto McPussygrabber who put the military on the course for such a difficult withdrawal. And good old W who got us in this mess in the first place. 

mrincredible said:

I’m truly sorry those 13 service members died. It’s horrible what happened and nobody anticipated how quickly the Taliban forces would overrun the country and the Afghan Security Forces. Certainly the Trump administration didn’t foresee it when they made the deal that led to the inevitable withdrawal in 2021. 

Did the Bush administration foresee this result when they started this war in 2001?  Did they foresee the deaths of over 3,500 coalition forces, over 2,400 of whom were Americas?  Which doesn’t include the deaths of over 3,900 civilian contractors, by the way. Or the 66,000 Afghan security forces who died?

Somehow the 13 who were tragically killed in 2021 are important for Republicans to talk about. Because they can pin that on Biden somehow even though it was Herr Kommandant Cheeto McPussygrabber who put the military on the course for such a difficult withdrawal. And good old W who got us in this mess in the first place. 

she will answer with a cartoon as soon as she gets out of church 

mtierney said:

PVW said:

Nobody believes for a moment you care.

How, from your lofty perch above, can you explain this….

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nbc-correction-harris/2024/09/02/id/1178755/

Step 1, journalist made an error.

Step 2, journalist (and/or her network) published a correction.

The way it's supposed to work, imo.

mtierney said:

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

you know people die in war, right? but, you know, you've been told that these 13 somehow represent a one of a kind tragedy for which the President must be blamed.

also, explain how we were supposed to retrieve all of that equipment.

include the fact that most of it (all of it?) was not actually owned by us and was not under our command.

also include the fact that you first need to find all of it .

also include the fact that we'd probably have to fight for it and the Taliban had more forces than we did by then because remember there were only 2000 troops left because of Trump's plan. 

and remember that Trump released 5000 Taliban fighters as part of the Taliban agreement he negotiated.

and remember that Trump released 5000 Taliban fighters as part of the Taliban agreement he negotiated.

and remember that Trump released 5000 Taliban fighters as part of the Taliban agreement he negotiated.

and remember that Trump released 5000 Taliban fighters as part of the Taliban agreement he negotiated.

10 to 1 that the person who killed those 13 soldiers was one of those 5000. So, probably, Trump released their killer.

Does that bother you?

'course not!!!

just give it like 10 seconds of thought.  after 10 seconds you would realize what a ridiculous comment yours was.

mtierney said:

PVW said:

Nobody believes for a moment you care.

How, from your lofty perch above, can you explain this….

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nbc-correction-harris/2024/09/02/id/1178755/

why do we have to explain what a TV talking head says? who cares?

you people are so un-serious.

PVW said:

mtierney said:

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

Nobody believes for a moment you care.

don't you remember all of those many posts she wrote lamenting the plight of the Afghan people over the last 20 years, prior to the withdrawal?

drummerboy said:

PVW said:

mtierney said:

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

Nobody believes for a moment you care.

don't you remember all of those many posts she wrote lamenting the plight of the Afghan people over the last 20 years, prior to the withdrawal?

Could you point me to the posts where she passionately argued for making it easier for Afghans fleeing the Taliban to move the U.S and become permanent residents and even citizens?

Regarding the withdrawal, I also am having a hard time finding where she warned against the precipitous timeline of the deal Trump imposed, and where she either argued that Biden should modify or disavow it, or where she argued for a brief surge to secure conditions ahead of the withdrawal.

PVW said:

Could you point me to the posts where she passionately argued for making it easier for Afghans fleeing the Taliban to move the U.S and become permanent residents and even citizens?

I think you missed the sarcasm. 

mrincredible said:

PVW said:

Could you point me to the posts where she passionately argued for making it easier for Afghans fleeing the Taliban to move the U.S and become permanent residents and even citizens?

I think you missed the sarcasm. 

no, I think he joined in

drummerboy said:

no, I think he joined in

dammit. A double sarcasm and I missed it. 

When you close all but one air base in a large area and leave munitions throughout the nation, it doesn't take Nostradamus to predict a somewhat chaotic retreat. Has mtierney even read up on the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan? 15,000 of their troops died. 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-begin-withdrawal-from-afghanistan

A double sarcasm doesn't not reinforce itself...

dave said:

When you close all but one air base in a large area and leave munitions throughout the nation, it doesn't take Nostradamus to predict a somewhat chaotic retreat. Have you even read up on the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan? 15,000 of their troops died. 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-begin-withdrawal-from-afghanistan

So that went better for them than their invasion of Ukraine's been going.

PVW said:

dave said:

When you close all but one air base in a large area and leave munitions throughout the nation, it doesn't take Nostradamus to predict a somewhat chaotic retreat. Have you even read up on the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan? 15,000 of their troops died. 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-begin-withdrawal-from-afghanistan

So that went better for them than their invasion of Ukraine's been going.

And if they retreat now from Ukraine, it would likely be their most successful retreat ever.  

dave said:

When you close all but one air base in a large area and leave munitions throughout the nation, it doesn't take Nostradamus to predict a somewhat chaotic retreat. Has mtierney even read up on the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan? 15,000 of their troops died. 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-begin-withdrawal-from-afghanistan

well, any attempt at an organized effort when there are actively warring factions is gonna be problematic. Drum's D-Day comment is on point.

and that's what make our effort there so remarkable. we still managed to airlift more than 100k people safely.

it's time to remind mt of the following:

and remember that Trump released 5000 Taliban fighters as part of the Taliban agreement he negotiated.

10 to 1 that the person who killed those 13 soldiers was one of those 5000. So, probably, Trump released their killer.

you gotta watch this Republican lying piece of crap conduct "questioning" about the withdrawal. OMG he's just despicable. And starting at about 9:00 The Dem being questioned, Rep. Jason Crow (an actual veteran of Afghanistan), lays out the actual facts about the withdrawal. He debunks the "7 billion dollars of weapons" left behind and many other Republican talking points.