Tag Archives: Afghan War

national news

Still standing with POTUS

If my phone were to ring and I discovered it was a public opinion pollster, I would answer it and hope that the voice on the other end would ask me my view on the job President Biden is doing.

Do I favor or oppose how he is leading the country?

My answer: Yes … I would give him a favorable rating.

Those who disagree with that view, too bad. I’m sorry you feel the way you do. I make no apologies for feeling as I do about the job President Biden is doing while he leads this country through a global pandemic, seeks to repair the wreckage left by his predecessor and, oh yeah, withdraw our troops and our allies from Afghanistan.

I believe I said during POTUS 45’s term in office that there was nothing on Earth I could picture him doing that would make me think favorably of the job he did.

Conversely, I try to consider what President Biden could do to turn me against the job he is doing. One thing pops out immediately: sending in brigades of fighting forces back into Afghanistan … for starters. Yep, that would do it. So would reneging on his commitment to fighting climate change.

The Afghan War withdrawal surely could have been executed more smoothly. Then again, this country has zero record of ending conflicts cleanly that it has not won outright. The Vietnam War didn’t end the way anyone in this country wanted it to end. Even though our side won virtually all the battlefield encounters with the communists during that bloody war, we lost the political will to keep fighting.

The North Vietnamese army rolled into Saigon, took control of the government, renamed the city after Uncle Ho and the United States was left with trying to explain how it could leave all those allies behind.

President Biden’s national security team is working as near as I can tell to conduct a withdrawal of many thousands of Americans and Afghan allies. The Biden team is actually working — reportedly — with the Taliban to ensure a reasonably safe outcome.

I am not going to turn my back on the president — at least not yet.

Pollsters, if you’re out there, give me a shout. I’ll be glad to answer your questions and give President Joe Biden a thumbs-up on the job he is doing.

— [email protected]

national news

Impeachment? Really, guys?

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Congressional Republicans are looking for payback.

Given that the guy who ran for president under their party got impeached twice, they want to impeach President Biden if he doesn’t get all Americans and our allies out of Afghanistan, which has been taken over by the notorious Taliban terrorist group.

It’s looking as though the president might be able to head off any idiotic impeachment effort. American airplanes are ferrying Americans and Afghan allies out of Kabul at an accelerating rate.

At last count, more than 40,000 of them have been evacuated.

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Biden will commit a “high crime and misdemeanor” if he leaves any American behind. Rep. Pat Fallon of Sherman, Texas — speaking to a town hall crowd in Rockwall the other day — said all House members should draft impeachment articles if Biden’s evacuation order falls short.

I thought Graham and Biden were pals. Not so with Fallon, a right-wing fire-breather who just joined Congress this year.

The 45th POTUS got impeached for two valid reasons: the first time for soliciting a political favor from a foreign head of state; the second time for inciting the insurrection on 1/6.

Joe Biden does not deserve to be impeached. This is a non-call.

International news

Deadline may be extended

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

President Biden’s plate of critical decisions is piling up and spilling onto his lap.

Here’s another one that looks more imminent each passing day: The Aug. 31 deadline for pulling out of Afghanistan might be delayed a while longer. Why? Because the president has promised to get every American and Afghan ally who who wants out of the country safe passage to freedom.

My strong hunch is that the project won’t be completed by Aug. 31.

Does that mean our troops who have been sent back to help with the evacuation will remain permanently? Hardly. It means that Joe Biden’s pledge to end our involvement in an Afghan civil war will have be set back until we can get everyone out of there.

Congressional Republicans are threatening impeachment if Biden leaves anyone behind. Frankly, that is the rhetoric of tinhorns. Yes, our withdrawal has gone badly. President Biden is seeking to correct it and we are sending an accelerated number of evacuees out of the country each day.

But the deadline for an end is a week away. Can we finish the job in that short span of time? I doubt it. Keep the troops on call, Mr. President, until the mission is accomplished.

International news

Do we stay or do we go?

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By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Public opinion polls have had their hands full in the past few days.

They are scurrying around the country asking Americans whether the Afghan War was worth the fight. A significant majority of Americans are telling them “no,” it wasn’t worth it.

And yet …

Congressional Republicans continue to pound President Biden over his decision to bring our troops — all of them — off the battlefield. A consequence has been the Taliban takeover of a country our forces fought to protect against the terrorists’ retaking control of the country.

I want to reiterate a key point. President Biden ended what his immediate predecessor started, which was a negotiated settlement to end our fight. That fact has been lost on GOP critics of Joe Biden, one of them being U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, my congressman, who said this in a statement: “Reminiscent of Saigon, President Biden naively chose to conduct an ill-advised and poorly planned withdrawal from Afghanistan despite warnings from national security experts and continuous violations from the Taliban.”

Huh? Eh? Taylor said Biden should have done “nothing.” His decision to end the fight, Taylor said, leaves “America and Americans worse off for it.” He calls this one of the president’s “reckless decisions.”

Hmm. I will disagree respectfully with the congressman.

Americans didn’t want to keep fighting an unwinnable war. POTUS No. 45 sought to negotiate a deal with the Taliban, remember? Do you also recall how he invited the Taliban to Camp David — on a date commemorating the 9/11 attack on our nation?

I agree that the withdrawal should have been planned better. Then again, there should have been an end-game strategy on the day we launched the Afghan War after 9/11. There wasn’t.

By my way of thinking, “doing nothing” about Afghanistan was not an option. President Biden had two choices: staying or leaving. He made the right call.

military news

What if he had stayed?

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By John Kanelis / [email protected]

President Biden has his hands full trying to fend off Republican critics of his decision to end our military involvement in Afghanistan.

It begs a critical question.

What if Joe Biden had decided once he took office that we needed to stay there? Or had he decided to bring more troops onto the field of battle? And then we would have sustained casualties while the fighting raged on?

Do you suppose that would have made those sitting in the GOP peanut gallery happy? Hah! Not even, man.

They would have accused him of reneging on his predecessor’s pledge to “end the useless war” in Afghanistan.

Yes, we have a mess on our hands. I am going to give President Biden the benefit of the doubt — although it’s not an endless benefit — that he can fix this evacuation crisis.

As for the criticism he is receiving for ending our conflict, he is being damned for doing the right thing.

International news

Exit strategy anyone?

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By John Kanelis / [email protected]

The chaos and confusion surrounding our exit from the battlefield in Afghanistan prompts a question or two.

One of them is this: When we decide to go to war, would it serve everyone well if we crafted an exit strategy going in knowing that the end would arrive one day?

I ask the question because of the pounding that President Biden is receiving over his withdrawal of troops and the shoddy lack of preparation for the end game.

I say this trying to spread the responsibility around through three previous presidential administrations, namely the George W. Bush administration, which took us to war in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The question keeps rolling around. Why didn’t President Bush’s team come up with an exit strategy from the get-go? Did he not have some wished-for notion that our war against terrorists would find a conclusion? The same thing can be said of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the two men who followed Bush into the Oval Office. Did either of them foresee an end? If so, why didn’t they develop an exit strategy that our troops could follow?

Now the whole thing has fallen on President Biden’s lap. He did what he had to do, what he pledged to, which was to bring our troops home from the longest war in our nation’s history. Yes, he should have had an evacuation plan on which to draw when he issued the order. He didn’t. Neither did any of the men who preceded him.

So, who deserves the blame? Does it fall entirely on President Biden? No. It’s a shared consequence.

International news

A little more perspective, OK?

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By John Kanelis / [email protected]

President Biden is taking a lot of unjustified heat over his decision to end our military involvement in Afghanistan.

It is coming in the form of criticism over the lack of preparation for evacuating allies and those Afghans who helped us during the 20-year war. The Taliban stormed into Kabul this week and have seized control of a government they once ran with ruthless depravity.

I want to share this brief notion.

Joe Biden was the fourth president of the United States to deal with the Taliban and with a potential end game of the Afghan War. Did he present a coherent, comprehensive exit strategy that included caring for the translators and others who assisted us during the conflict? No.

However, Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump all had their opportunities to craft an end strategy as well. What they did any of them do to care for the men and women who aided us? Did any of those former presidents seek to develop a strategy to use once we declared an end to this war? No! They didn’t.

So as their successor, Joe Biden, struggles with seeking to manage this end game, he is taking heat that isn’t entirely justified. He inherited a mess — one of many — from his immediate predecessor, who let us remember actually sought to negotiate an end to the war with the Taliban. That didn’t go well, either.

Joe Biden declared that the “buck stops” with him. He is now the president and he takes full responsibility for his actions and for all the consequences they bring. He’s a grownup and is more than able to withstand the pounding he is taking.

However, I want to cut the POTUS just a bit of slack. He didn’t create the problem. Indeed, none of the three men who preceded him developed any strategy to deal with the chaos that is unfolding.

International news

Put this into perspective

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Let’s take a moment, take a few deep breaths, and seek to put the Afghanistan collapse and turmoil into a bit of perspective.

President Biden’s decision to end our military involvement comes directly on the heels of a deal negotiated by his immediate predecessor, who sought to work with the Taliban on a withdrawal of our forces.

You’ll recall that POTUS 45 actually invited the Taliban terrorists to Camp David for a summit on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2020. It didn’t occur, given the outrage expressed at the time.

The former POTUS wanted us out of there by May of this year. He got defeated for re-election. Joe Biden stepped up and decided to end the conflict right now. So … he did.

President Biden had set the 20th year since 9/11 as the date we would leave; he chose instead to move up a bit.

All of this had been planned by the previous administration. Where the current administration fell short has been in the planning for the evacuation of our Afghan allies, the people who helped us during the 20-year war. Yes, the Biden administration deserves criticism for the way it has mishandled that element.

However, the withdrawal was set in motion many months before President Biden took office.

And yet, we now hear from Republican members of Congress seeking to invoke constitutional powers to strip Biden of his presidential authority. Some of the GOP fruitcakes keep yammering about the president’s mental acuity.

Rick Scott raises removing Biden from office over Afghanistan – POLITICO

They’re full of sh**!

Our nation was pulled kicking and screaming into full terrorist alert on 9/11. To my way of thinking, we remain much more vigilant now to the dangers of foreign terror attacks than we were prior to that hideous event two decades ago. President Biden vows a robust response from our military if we detect any potential threat from the Taliban. Trust me on this, the Taliban do not want to face the wrath of the world’s most powerful military force.

I want to give the president a bit more time to hash out the details that admittedly should have been reckoned with prior to the withdrawal.

As for our allies in Afghanistan who are clamoring for safe haven, they need our help immediately. I believe President Biden is working to give it to them at soon as is humanly possible.

International news, military news

Biden gives speech of his life?

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By John Kanelis / [email protected]

Jim Boyd once wrote editorials for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

He is a friend of mine; I have known Boyd for more than 30 years. He and I have one other thing in common — besides being former editorialists. We served in Vietnam; both of us were in the Army. Boyd worked in “the bush”; I did not.

My friend today endorsed President Biden’s speech to the nation about the tragedy in Afghanistan. Boyd takes a different view than what I have expressed. I want to share it here. It’s a brief Facebook post, so bear with me.

Biden just gave the best foreign policy speech of my lifetime. He learned the lessons of Vietnam and Iraq — needlessly spending the lives of Americans and residents of those countries in pursuit of mistaken policies — and then he applied it in mission-creeped Afghanistan. It was the clearest, truest statement on refusing to waste American lives I have ever heard. And I have been listening since I went in the Army in 1968. Bravo, bravo, President Biden.

The president’s decision to pull our forces out of Afghanistan was a sound call. I would argue only that the logistics of the withdrawal has been, shall we say, clumsy.

The criticism of the president’s policy pronouncement has centered on the lack of planning for the protection of the thousands of allies we employed while fighting the Taliban. They served as interpreters, deep-cover operatives, staff personnel. They want out of Afghanistan. President Biden did not produce an evacuation plan prior to making his decision to pull out. Should he have done so in advance? Of course!

However, what I heard today from the president was a clear and unambiguous statement of ownership of a critical decision, just as President Kennedy took the heat for the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. President Biden stood strongly behind his decision to end a war that had become something that one of his predecessors, George W. Bush, didn’t foresee … at least not publicly.

Indeed, President Bush pulled his own eyes off the target when he ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 on the double-barreled phony mantra that (a) Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and (b) he had something to do with the 9/11 attacks.

So, our nation’s war effort in Afghanistan has ended. There will be no more American lives lost on this particular far-away field of battle.

I join my friend in saying, “Bravo, President Biden.” 

International news

Biden said what he had to say

By John Kanelis / [email protected]

President Biden has said the only thing he could possibly say with regard to the Afghanistan government’s collapse and the Taliban takeover in that war-shattered nation.

He said “The buck stops with me” and he takes ownership of the decision to end our involvement in the longest war in our nation’s history. There would be no way on God’s good Earth that he could reverse course, express regret about the decision he made and send tens of thousands of U.S. troops back onto the battlefield.

There would be no way to find a different solution “five years ago” or “15 years in the future,” Biden said.

Fair enough. Our war is over. The suffering in Afghanistan is far from over. The Taliban has marched into Kabul more quickly than anyone expected.

I am terribly conflicted by what is happening. I want our men and women to come home, too. I am tired of our involvement in a civil war that one side — the so-called good guys — was unwilling to fight. Biden said we supplied the Afghan armed forces with billions of dollars, state-of-the-art equipment, the best training possible. President Biden noted correctly, though, that no amount of money could pay for a fighting force that is unwilling to fight.

Thus, the prospect of Afghan women being returned to subhuman status draws my intense ire. However, the Afghan armed forces were ordered to defend against that occurring … and they failed in their mission.

Collin County Judge Chris Hill — a conservative Republican — calls the events a revival of the Jimmy Carter presidency; he calls it “Jimmy Carter 2.0.” No surprise there.

The situation is still unfolding. We do not know how it will play out. I am going to hope for the best.

As for President Biden, this is why we’re paying him the big bucks.