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| Marine Sargent Nicole Gee, political victim |
There are some important differences between the Trump and
Biden approaches in Afghanistan. Trump was willing to end America’s presence in
Afghanistan in May, and his was a conditional withdrawal the most important
provision of which was that the United States would agree to leave Afghanistan
if – and only if – the Taliban were to agree to share power with the government
of Afghanistan.
Biden’s surrender to the Taliban was unconditional, and that
is why the Taliban was able to dictate to Biden the terms of surrender. The
victors in any confrontation always spoil the best laid plans of the losers.
Because his surrender was unconditional, Biden found it necessary to leave both
Americans and friends of America behind enemy lines following his self-imposed
exit-date of August 31, surely a day that will live in shame and ignominy
U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal, a Marine, said on August 28,
according to CTInsider, that “he and other
members of Congress met with the administration in April and May ‘pleading’ to
start a mass evacuation effort ’I hope that our military will remain as long as
possible to enable as many as possible Afghan allies to escape torture and
murder that the Taliban may impose on them or their families,’ Blumenthal said
Saturday.”
Given the nature of the Taliban and Biden’s perverse
insistence on a deadline (no pun intended), Blumenthal’s hope will likely be a
fugitive hope.
There is much we do not know concerning the meeting between
Biden, Blumenthal and others. Just to begin with, who were the others? Did
Blumenthal and the nameless others agree to the apparently non-negotiable
set-date for evacuation of August 31?
Did Blumenthal protest that the set-date would make it
nearly impossible for the American military to assure all Americans and friends
of America in Afghanistan could be safely removed by August 31?
If it could be shown that the number of American left in
Afghanistan after August 31 was larger than 350 souls – the undercount of
remaining evacuees given by Blumenthal on August 28, three days before E-Day
(Evacuation Day) -- would Blumenthal agree to a reentry of the American
military to accomplish their safe removal?
If the fears he expressed on August 28 – that the Taliban
may impose torture and murder upon Americans and the friends of American
remaining in Afghanistan after E-Day – turn out to be true following the
evacuation, will he denounce both Biden and the Generals who misadvised the
President that the Taliban would live up to their own propaganda and stop
behaving, once control over Afghanistan had been surrendered to them, like the
Taliban of old. Blumenthal, in his August 28 statement, seemed to be suggesting
that 10th century Taliban habits die hard, along with their numerous
victims.
Following the post-Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan,
Blumenthal must know, it will be as difficult for the US to rescue Americans
and friends of America from behind Taliban lines as it had been for the Afghan
military to defend a helpless country that had been deprived by Biden of
necessary, reliable on-the-ground intelligence and air support supplied by
retreating Americans, one of the reasons surely that Biden was forced to
maintain his self-enforced deadline of August 31.
The end of the 20 year peace in Afghanistan, George Will – no friend of the
Trump administration – notes in a recent column, was a “made in America” rout.
Especially poignant are quotes from British politician and diplomat Rory Stewart, who was “incensed about
Biden’s ‘incredibly offensive’ Aug. 16 address, in which Biden disparaged the Afghans’
‘will to fight.’”
The United States,
Stewart said, “provided all the air support for the Afghans. [The Americans]
didn’t just take their own planes away. They took away 16,000 civilian
contractors who were maintaining the Afghan helicopters. … So those things
can’t even fly. And the morale damage. They left in the middle of the night
from Bagram [air base]. They didn’t even tell the commander that they were
leaving. The Afghans woke up in the morning. All their planes disabled, the
Americans have left, no support of any kind. And you’re asking who exactly? Who
is President Biden asking to fight?”
Indeed, what we – including
Blumenthal -- will be witnessing in days to come is what happens when a
“friendly” supportive state pulls the rug out from under its “friends” and
throws them into the jaws of ravening jackals.
Blumenthal’s
Democrat companion in the US Senate, Chris Murphy, is threatening a broad based
congressional hearing examining the last 20 years of American support in
Afghanistan, when what is desperately needed at our moment of crisis is a
fiercely focused examination of Biden’s surrender of Afghanistan to the
Taliban. The best way to hide the golden needle, seasoned politicians with much
to hide might tell us, is to drop it into a barn full of congressional hay.
The junior Senator
from Connecticut is seasoning fast.
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