"Over our country’s 20 years at war in Afghanistan, America has sent its finest young men and women, invested nearly $1 trillion dollars, trained over 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police, equipped them with state-of-the-art military equipment, and maintained their air force as part of the longest war in U.S. history. One more year, or five more years, of U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country. And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me." -- part of President Biden's statement on Afghanistan yesterday. You can read the full text here.
As we noted yesterday, our obligation remains to "secure the immediate evacuation of those Afghans who served us as translators, clerks, embassy staff and more." The "stab in the back" chorus that's featured every night on the national news and in other media should direct its fire to the corrupt government and inept military and security forces who, on paper, far outnumber and outgun the Taliban, but who are unwilling or unable to protect themselves or their wives, daughters and sisters. That's the harsh truth.
