The Forum > Article Comments > Kabul: some good must come of this > Comments
Kabul: some good must come of this : Comments
By Graham Young, published 19/8/2021What we are seeing in Afghanistan is an international version of defunding the police. This is Portland Oregon or Kenosha, just with a broader canvass and even more elemental actors.
- Pages:
-
- 1
- 2
- 3
- ...
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Page 8
-
- All
Rubbish. It should have been written like this:
The Afghan military blame the Americans.
The UK parliament blames Americans.
The Europeans blame the Americans.
The US military blame the administrations.
The CIA blame the administrations.
Biden was quite clear about his decision:
“When I came into office, I inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, U.S. forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021. The choice I had to make as your president was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season. It was only a cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict, and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, lurching into the third decade of conflict. I stand squarely behind my decision.”
As the NY Times reports:
“Intelligence agencies have long predicted an ultimate Taliban victory, even before President Donald J. Trump and Mr. Biden decided to withdraw forces. Those estimates provided a range of timelines. While they raised questions about the will of the Afghan security forces to fight without Americans by their side, they did not predict a collapse within weeks.
But in recent months, assessments became ever more pessimistic as the Taliban made larger gains, according to current and former officials. The reports this summer questioned in stark terms the will of Afghan security forces to fight and the ability of the Kabul government to hold power. With each report of mass desertions, a former official said, the Afghan government looked less stable.”
So we have a few poms and Europeans saying the Yanks should not have withdrawn, that the country should not have been given up to the Taliban. I don't see any American quotes from you. I suspect that is because the withdrawal has reasonably wide spread support in that country.
shadowminister,
Your president basically handed the place to the Taliban. Do you support his decision or not?