You may not include me among the critics of President Biden who are suggesting, without foundation, that our withdrawal from Afghanistan is a botched deal.
That it is a defeat. That we should be embarrassed. Ashamed. That we were whipped.
None of that happened on the battlefield.
Our evacuation of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and Afghans wanting out of the country is almost complete. The president is warning us of possible — and possibly likely — terrorist attacks as we complete our withdrawal.
I’ve heard some right-wing talking heads refer to the 1940 evacuation of British soldiers at Dunkirk as the way this kind of operation should go. They pillory Biden for what has happened in Afghanistan. I won’t go there.
The president made it clear that we would remove anyone who wanted out. From my vantage point it appears that we are about to achieve that goal.
Twenty years of combat in Afghanistan degraded al-Qaeda’s terror network. Yes, the Taliban seized control of the country more quickly than anyone imagined.
Ending a war cannot be done cleanly and without some hazard. We have learned to our great dismay that is the case as we end the Afghan War. The Islamic State has struck us; ISIS well might hit us again. The president has issued orders to the Pentagon to ensure maximum protection of our forces who are helping facilitate the evacuation.
So the evac plans will continue until the middle of next week. Then we will be done.
I am one American who wants the war to end. Accordingly, as soon as we get our forces out of there I will consider the mission has been accomplished.
