'There’s No Elegant Way To Lose a War'
Veteran Democrats sound exasperation with unrelenting fault-finding in face of Biden administration's effective record in Afghanistan
From the sounds of some of the most relentless critics of President Biden's approach to the sudden Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and his administration's subsequent evacuation operation, you'd be forgiven if you believed that US aircraft were hopelessly grounded and Americans have been dying across the capital city of Kabul.
But, in point-of-fact, the US government has relocated approximately 88,000 people on US military and coalition flights since the end of July — and up until Thursday's twin suicide bombings outside Kabul’s airport — done so free from American casualties. (And even in connection with the bombings, the US Embassy warned citizens at three airport gates beforehand to leave immediately due to an unspecified security threat.)
This disconnect has left some Democratic notables clearly frustrated and exasperated — even with the critics from their side of the aisle.
The Taliban completed their lightning surge across Afghanistan earlier this month when they took control of Kabul — bringing the nation virtually full-circle after US forces withdrew earlier this year following nearly 20 years of occupation following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
President George W Bush ordered the invasion, with authority from Congress, but never articulated a clear US exit strategy. The US presence in Afghanistan has now spanned the administrations of four US presidents.
Biden ordered the full US withdrawal to follow up the agreement that the Trump administration negotiated last year directly with the Taliban.
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville specifically took to task the US press corps — who have been focusing on broadcasting images and scenes of heart-wrenching anguish and desperation mostly among Afghan nationals eager to escape the clutches of the brutal, hardline Taliban.
The US government has been evacuating vulnerable Afghan nationals alongside Americans — Afghans who actively cooperated and assisted US troops and diplomats during their long occupation of the country — and who now are particularly at-risk from reprisals by the oppressive Taliban.
“There’s no elegant way to lose a war. We lost this war 15 years ago. All Joe Biden was doing was telling us what time it is and the hysterical and stupid coverage of the mainstream press, it’s just been awful,” Carville said.
Criticism of Biden and his handling of the situation in Afghanistan has become so vituperative that some Republicans, including Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, are actively calling for the impeachment of the president.
Although overwhelming majorities of the American people support a US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Sen Chris Murphy (D-Conn) pointed out that many of those condemning Biden the hardest actually advocate for continuing the US presence there.
“It’s important to remember that most of the loudest critics of the withdrawal operation actually oppose the withdrawal altogether. They want to keep the U.S. in Afghanistan forever,” tweeted Murphy, who has been one of the most stalwart supporters of Biden's handling of Afghanistan.
The stateside quarterbacking and second-guessing by Republicans and other critics just isn't realistic, according to former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill, who's now a contributor for MSNBC.
“It's kind of ironic: People are saying, 'He should have quietly evacuated.’ You don't ‘quietly’ evacuate several hundred thousand people without the Taliban, and other people on the ground, knowing what's going on,” McCaskill said. “The Afghan government knew for a long time that both this president — and the previous president — wanted to get out. And the lack of planning, the lack of a will to fight, is not Joe Biden's fault.
“There are way more Afghans who aren't Taliban than who are Taliban. And they decided that they weren't going to stand and fight — and that's their decision,” said McCaskill, a former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
She particularly expressed exasperation with Trump supporters who criticize Biden over Afghanistan.
“And, frankly, I don't have any patience listening to people criticize Joe Biden about this, when they're supporting a guy who — when he was president — not only did he want to do the same thing, he wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David,” McCaskill said, referring to a plan by Trump to invite representatives of a group that US government considers terrorists to the official presidential retreat in rural Maryland.
Trump supporters, too, are known for their hatred of refugees in the United States — including Afghan refugees, McCaskill said, adding that the Biden administration should use financial leverage to persuade the cash-strapped Taliban to allow Afghan nation's to continue to emigrate.
“And, by the way, all of them hate refugees. They don't want refugees anywhere near the United States of America. So I think that the Democratic Party needs to stay united around our support for these refugees from Afghanistan — and use the leverage of international aid and money to help them get out over the coming months,” the former senator said.
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