NEW YORK — The Taliban’s stunning return to tyranny in Afghanistan is yet another epic fail, courtesy of the breathtakingly incompetent Joseph Robinette Biden. The president’s leadership vacuum, which the Taliban filled at the speed of sound, features numerous facets, each more disturbing than the last.
First, rather than take responsibility for this calamity, Biden pointed fingers. He blamed — who else? — former President Donald J. Trump. As Biden’s statement explained on Saturday:
When I came to office, I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor — which he invited the Taliban to discuss at Camp David on the eve of 9/11 of 2019 — that left the Taliban in the strongest position militarily since 2001 and imposed a May 1, 2021 deadline on U.S. Forces. Shortly before he left office, he also drew U.S. Forces down to a bare minimum of 2,500. Therefore, when I became President, I faced a choice — follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our Forces and our allies’ Forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict. I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan — two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth.
Astonishing!
Biden pleads today that he was imprisoned by “a deal” negotiated by President Trump. What a whiny lie! Biden now claims that he was impotent to craft what he considers a better deal. Would that it were so. Biden promiscuously has sliced to ribbons everything that Trump touched, short of the White House guest book. Biden shredded Trump’s:
–Keystone XL Pipeline agreement with Canada
–sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to Germany
–“Remain in Mexico” pact regarding asylum seekers
–immigration-caravan-prevention treaties with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
–abandonment of the Iran-nuclear deal
–rejection of the Paris pact on so-called “global warming”
If Biden had not spent the last seven months undoing Trump’s every action, he could have repealed and replaced the Afghanistan accords that he now says hold him hostage.
Second, as retired General Jack Keane and others have observed, the Taliban hide in caves in the winter. So, Biden should have pulled out then, not at the height of today’s fighting season, when it’s warm, dry, and evildoers move with ease.
Third, rather than retreat from everywhere, all at once, Biden could have followed Trump’s “conditions-based” withdrawal plan: Depart one province, allow Afghan forces to establish security, then — and only then — depart from the next province.
Rinse.
Repeat.
Biden spurned Trump’s patience and discipline. Instead, Biden acted recklessly and impulsively, with catastrophic results.
Fourth, Biden evidently didn’t bother to tell the Afghans that the US planned to abandon Bagram Air Base and other facilities. Biden ordered American GIs to get up and leave. The Afghans were not there to relieve them. Instead, they showed up, and Uncle Sam was gone. This left the Afghans dazed, confused, and rife with separation anxiety.
Fifth, Afghans who helped America since 2001 now scramble to flee before the Taliban slaughters them. The GOP pushed Biden to give these people Special Immigrant Visas, move them to a safe third country, or even resettle them temporarily on US bases outside Afghanistan. Instead, for months, Biden stayed busy erasing the southern frontier and perpetrating other calamities on this side of Earth. Those Afghans who helped America now wonder how long their heads will stay on their shoulders.
As Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen devastatingly observed, Americans fell fatally from the World Trade Center as they yielded to al-Qaeda’s flames of hate on September 11, 2001. Today, nearly 20 years later, Afghans fall fatally from the outside of ascendant American military aircraft as they try to escape the very Taliban who wet-nursed al-Qaeda before the 9/11 massacre.
Sixth, tons and tons of American weapons were left behind, including drones. They now have fallen into the hands of the Taliban. What could go wrong? This equipment was supposed to remain in place for the Afghan military’s use. Biden should have developed a contingency plan to repatriate this gear or destroy it, once it became clear that the Afghans lost control thereof.
Seventh, as material conditions deteriorated, Biden cowered at Camp David. The White House released a photo of Biden sitting in a conference room, as home alone as a 78-year-old Macaulay Culkin, speaking on a Zoom-style call with his advisors. He did not have one aide, military or otherwise, beside him. Biden looked as weak and isolated as former President Jimmy Carter was in August 1979, when he sat in a rowboat by himself and battled a waterborne rabbit.
Was it asking too much for Biden to go on camera and say something? Anything? Even if he declared, “I love Afghanistan!” Americans and the world would know that the President of the United State was awake. For most of the last five days, he seems to have been napping.
After being slammed Left, middle, and Right, Biden finally returned to the White House to make a statement Monday at 3:45 p.m. ET.
High time.
Love or hate Trump, even Don Lemon would concede that if the 45th Commander-in-Chief were in this situation, Trump would have been all over TV, expressing US policy, perhaps to a fault.
Eighth, and most worrisome: The Bagram Air Force Base’s Detention Center held hundreds, if not thousands of al-Qaeda and ISIS murderers. The Taliban showed up just days ago and threw open the jail cells. Now, these human cancer cells are free to return to jihad. Look for them, eventually, in a neighborhood near you
“Terrorist groups like a-Qaeda could reconstitute in Afghanistan sooner than the two years defense officials had previously estimated to Congress because of the recent, rapid Taliban takeover of the country,” said General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff.
“What happens in Afghanistan doesn’t stay in Afghanistan,” Congressman Michael Waltz (R – Florida) told Fox News Sunday night. The former Green Beret added: “It will spread, and it will follow us home.”
Thank you, Snoring Joe!
Biden should have moved these butchers to Guantanamo, Diego Garcia, or some other secure spot. He also could have turned them over to Saudi Arabia and asked them to take care of them — good and hard. Even better: Biden should have lined up these stateless, non-uniformed terrorists — none of whom is shielded by the Geneva Convention — and had them shot. Biden’s predecessors of both parties should have done this years ago.
The bad news is that this is yet another total belly flop from a president whose ineptness and fecklessness are immeasurable.
The good news is that America no longer experiences Donald J. Trump’s 4:00 a.m. Twitter blasts. That must make all of this worth it.
This staggering fiasco is what happens when voters stop focusing on profound public policy differences and, instead, obsess over superficial personality traits.
Good luck, America!
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of TrumpTrainNews.com
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor, a contributing editor with National Review Online, and a senior fellow with the London Center for Policy Research.
