We Now Know Why Biden Was in a Hurry to Exit Afghanistan

[Towlie]

Slate: We Now Know Why Biden Was in a Hurry to Exit Afghanistan

There was a moment in Tuesday’s Senate hearing on the withdrawal from Afghanistan when it became clear why President Joe Biden decided to get the troops out of there as quickly as possible.

It came when Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained why he and the other chiefs—the top officers of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines—all agreed that we needed to pull out by Aug. 31. The Doha agreement, which President Donald Trump had signed with the Taliban in early 2020 (with no participation by the Afghan government), required a total withdrawal of foreign forces. If U.S. troops had stayed beyond August, Milley said, the Taliban would have resumed the fighting, and, in order to stave off the attacks, “we would have needed 30,000 troops” and would have suffered “many casualties.”

Read the rest! It's relatively short and to the point. The conclusion:

Biden made several missteps, some of them disastrous, in the pace and sequence of the withdrawal. Most of all, he should have pulled out all the spies, contractors, U.S. citizens, and Afghan helpers before pulling out all the troops. But on the big picture, he was right, and the generals, as they now grudgingly admit, were wrong.

[PatSeg]

1. K&R

[empedocles]

2. Not a simple matter to just 'pull out all the contractors, etc.' who were not ready to go

[Celerity]

4. Yes, I was under the impression that almost all of the Americans still there (the ones the Rethugs

are faux poutraging about) are military contractors who refused and are refusing to leave.

[COL Mustard]

31. If There Were Government Contractors There

They would have been evacuated. No doubt. Going back to my own contracting days, my company would have told me to leave with the troops, as directed. I think any Americans who are still there are dual citizens or have other familial ties and didn't want to leave. One of the good things about being an American is that we have the freedom (or freedumb) to do lots of things, and the USG wasn't going to compel American citizens to leave, other than stated above.

Of course, I could be wrong.

[stopdiggin]

41. concur. I've always been suspicious of the

number of U.S. nationals who 'couldn't get out.' Just don't think that's the real story for most.

Having said that - the collapse was stunning - not only unpredicted, but actually mind boggling.

[soldierant]

34. If the RWNJs are screaming now, as they are, I cannot even imagine

how much louder and harsher the screams would be if people who were not trops, including some people who were not American citizens, had been taken out of country before the troops were.

But, of course, for RWNJs, no one but themselves can do anything right.

[EYESORE 9001]

3. Rump left a flaming bag of dog shit on Joe Biden's front porch

Joe wisely used a fire extinguisher instead of trying to stomp out the fire.

[Mysterian]

20. Just like George Bush left a steaming pile of Somalia for Bill Clinton

For my entire life, Democrats have cleaned up republican disasters.

[Evolve Dammit]

39. truth here; it's always the pattern. 45 damn near overturned an election. Never mind the grift and

corruption.

[triron]

45. He should have been in the Big House, not the White House.

And never underestimate the stupidity of the American public in many red states.

[Klaralven]

5. Over two decades, at great cost, we built a government, military, etc. that Afghans can't afford

The Taliban has a fatal cash flow problem

PESHAWAR – Afghanistan’s finances are running dry as multilateral and Western donors withhold funds in punitive response to the Taliban’s military seizure of power.

Unless China, Russia or other foreign donors come to the financial rescue, the Taliban could soon preside over a full-blown financial meltdown at a time many areas of the war-torn nation are teetering towards famine.

The Taliban’s money problems stem from the US Treasury Department’s freeze order on an estimated US$9.5 billion of Afghan central bank reserves held in US financial institutions including the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

https://asiatimes.com/2021/09/the-taliban-has-a-fatal-cash-flow-problem/

It's not just the freeze on central bank reserves that's the problem.

The core problem is that through a massive amount of foreign aid and military assistance we have built a government, military, educational system, bureaucracy, social services, etc. that is beyond the ability of the Afghan tax base to support without massive continuing inflows of international aid.

Had we stayed on, we would have had to continue to fund that outsized Afghan establishment indefinitely.

[Eyeball_Kid]

9. So what are they to do? Go full tilt on heroin production?

Even if they did, it won't be enough to finance their survival as a nation. Extracting precious metals from the mountains might help, but they'd need international agreements to pull that off. Perhaps China would want a monopoly on high tech metals, but they'd have to invest heavily in mining operations in Afghanistan. And given the Taliban's appetite for brutality, misogyny, and oppression, their terrible nature may rub off on China and affect their international relations. In order for the Taliban to survive as the stewards of their country, they'll have to abandon their brutal interpretation of Sharia Law and treat people like dignified humans.

[Klaralven]

10. Their best bet is to let the rural areas survive on what they can produce and let the cities starve

That way they might be able to get enough food aid into the cities to make it through the winter.

[Chainfire]

6. The end game was going to be nasty whether we pulled out this year or ten years from now.

Biden had the guts to take in on the chin and get us out. I do not think that there was a big disaster anywhere besides in the 24 hour news cycle.

[DeeNice]

12. Cynical take - it will be a speck in the rear view mirror come election time

If he'd waited any longer it would be a liability. The right will try to use it anyway, but as we know the populace has a short attention span.

[justie18]

18. Yes!

You nailed it!!!!!

[The Wizard]

7. There is no upside to remaining there. (NT)

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Has anyone given any thought to how Trump, had he been re-elected would have handled

the Afghan exit? I'm guessing it would have been a true cluster-fuck, and not a single Afghan would have been evacuated, and right now we'd be reading true horror stories of the Taliban hunting down everyone who'd ever worked for us and brutally murdering them.

[2Gingersnaps]

13. Exactly how he handled the Kurds,

but who made a fuss about that in real time? Sure we did, just like a lot of people still make a fuss about famine and brutality in Yemen, but hey, if it works for Erik Prince............

[jmowreader]

22. It's very simple

Trump would have either found or invented a loophole, and we’d still be there. But we’d be there with 10th Mountain, 1st Cav and 1st Infantry Divisions plus 3rd Marine Division and lots of Air Force assets at full strength inside the country because the Taliban, who’d be pissed at Trump for going back on his word, would have started shooting and bombing again. And you can forget that six-month tour shit…those guys would be on the ground forever and we’d probably be looking at a draft to get people to join the Army.

The ONLY way we would have ever left Afghanistan is to do what we did: get 81 million people to vote for Joe Biden and let him handle the problem.

[Texin]

11. I disagree (in part) with the last paragraph provided here.

They needed those "spies" in order to have adequate intelligence information about activities being planned or updated incident reports happening on the ground and those circulating. They should have been quietly drawing down the number of contractors and NGA agents quietly ahead of the military evac of troops and civilians, though. But we don't know in fact whether they had been notified of the pullout prior, but I suspect they had been informed. That wasn't clear in the hearings this week, but they certainly had gotten this information prior to August, because the Doha agreement was inked more than a year ago.

[Towlie]

14. The last part adds credibility by presenting an image of journalistic neutrality.

 
←

An article that appears to claim President Biden is perfect and infallible, whether true or not, would be summarily rejected by many who need to be persuaded.

[Mysterian]

21. "Presenting an image" does not add credibility

Throwing an unsupported opinion into an article just makes the writer look stupid. Of course, many unskilled journalists make crude attempts like this to "present an image of journalistic neutrality."

[Demsrule86]

50. In my book printing bullshit opinion does not add credibility...I took journalism courses at college

I was lucky to go to UCONN which is a liberal arts state school...so we were required to take literature, philosophy, and all sorts of things outside our majors. I well remember old school journalism when just the facts were printed and the reader drew his/her own conclusions...OP article was written by a pundit not a journalist and the two are not even remotely the same.

[nuxvomica]

23. Yeah, I was thinking the same

Some of the intel, Afghan and contractor support being pulled early may have endangered the troops in some ways. Still, it's nice to be able to criticize this president without him pushing back like a stubborn child. That's got to be a breath of fresh air to even his detractors.

[calimary]

26. That's because we have a President who is a certified adult

and NOT an adult-size spoiled stubborn child.

[xmas74]

24. I have a relative who works for a contractor.

I won't give names but he said they knew for months that they needed to get out of Dodge asap.

[dlk]

15. It's been said, there's no elegant way to win a war

From Day 1, President Biden has had and endless parade of dumpster fires and messes to clean up. He’s done an outstanding job and the media doesn’t even begin to give him enough credit. Their bias is abundantly clear, as we’ve seen with all of the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth over our withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was many years overdue. Bravo to our President for doing the right thing.

[onetexan]

37. +1 -K&R

[andym]

16. Trump basically set the stage for disaster with his deal. But Joe probably needed to stabilize

Afghanistan by sending the troops back in, defeating the Taliban and then leaving. Thing is Joe Biden has wanted the US out of Afghanistan for a long time, so that was not going to happen.

At a minimum allowing the chaotic and deadly exit to happen hurt Biden at home, at a time when he needs maximum popularity to get his program passed.

[Demsrule86]

51. No and no-it would have required thousands of troops and more Americans would have died-absolutely

not. We squandered enough young lives in the cesspool that is Afghanistan. If 20 years was not enough time for stabilization a month or two would not have mattered...and it was not chaotic nor was it deadly. There was a minimum loss of lives and thousand got out.

We need to never send troops to Afghanistan. You condemn our president using right-wing talking points on a Democratic forum which infuriates me. But then I remembered the post from NPR (not a right-wing source but still wrong IMHO), and you were in favor of leaving/increasing troops in Afghanistan which would have violated the agreement forged by Trump after he lost the election. I think continuing our doomed efforts at stabilization would have ended the same way no matter how long we stayed.

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/14/1027375958/taliban-afghanistan-takeover-the-world-humanitarian-china-pakistan

[sarchasm]

17. This needs to be amplified far and wide.

The Doha agreement, which President Donald Trump had signed with the Taliban in early 2020 (with no participation by the Afghan government), required a total withdrawal of foreign forces.

[stopdiggin]

42. then why were the Brits (and other 'peacekeepers')

spitting mad at what transpired?

[sarchasm]

44. Because they were raped by their "ally" at the time?

Seems to be a theme with that one.

[stopdiggin]

53. perhaps would have made more sense

if they were passing bricks at the time of the deal - but it was Joe Biden that had them ready to string somebody up.

[jaxexpat]

19. Great conversation but I have an idea.

The poster quotes Slate, "he should have pulled out all the spies, contractors, U.S. citizens, and Afghan helpers before pulling out all the troops." That's a strong "he shoulda" statement from a guy who seems to be in the know. It's even filled with just plain common sense and a bit of righteous anger that Biden didn't do it that plain, old, simple, common sense way.

Well maybe there's this. Can our military even manage a presence in a theater of war anywhere, for more than 24 hrs., without spies, contractors or helpers?

[LittleGirl]

25. So after 20 years of training

The Afghan military and government dissolved in 11 days!

11 days people! Nobody would have predicted that and for their military to put their arms down and hide. So what exactly were we doing there?

[calimary]

27. Yep. There is that.

After all those years of training and equipping and massive support. All our tax dollars. And it collapsed in 11 days.

[oldsoftie]

32. It was a collapse of will. They COULD have beaten back the taliban if they WANTED to

But they ran before shots were even fired in most places.
Even though they likely could have gotten SOME air support from their air force. And air support is what would always tip the balance against the taliban. I think they had enough to protect the cities and the surrounding areas. Once they had success on their own, their confidence would probably have gotten better too. But no one knows for sure except "what if"....

[RVN VET71]

40. Imagine being a foot soldier told to hold off a marauding and barbaric enemy force

when the “government” you were defending is busy filling suitcases with money and fleeing the country.

Had there been one officer or even enlisted troop who was willing and able to rally the Afghan military to defend the country, then maybe things would have been different.

But there wasn’t. There just wasn’t.

As a result every Afghan soldier found himself armed and potentially at risk of getting killed for no reason other than to help Americans leave the country. After we’d pulled out all of our citizens and Afghan interpreters and others who had worked closely with the Americans, what was next?

What had they left to fight and die for?

[oldsoftie]

43. I agree. Just ONE successful stand may have ignited them.

But 2/3 of the country is under 25 and pretty much has known only a life with US protection & many freedoms that will now go away. Now they'll see what the OTHER side of the coin looks like. I wonder how long before an organized resistance forms.

[bucolic_frolic]

28. "should have pulled out all the spies, contractors" first??? That's crazy and stupid

Nothing like telegraphing your intentions to your enemies, cutting off intelligence flow for our military. They would have been sitting ducks, Beirut Airport style. Whoever wrote that is pretty stupid in my view.

[Demsrule86]

52. It is a bunch of bullshit...Slate hates most Democrats and particularly Biden...the last part is

opinion and not a very well-informed opinion either. It is almost amusing. They have to admit Pres. Biden was correct but they have to find some way to attack him at the same time. I never read slate these days...way too much aggravation.

[Snackshack]

29. I am not entirely sure.

What to think about General Milley. On one hand we have heard he was set and ready to do all he could to stop dt there in the December, January timeframe from starting a war with China or using any nuclear weapons so kudos to him for that. On the other hand he did the walk of infamy with DT across the street for the photo op even though he later said he was mistaken for doing that.

Having said all that I do know that General Milley has exceptional character traits of remaining calm, cool, collected and extremely restrained when the situation calls for that... because I would have unloaded on gaetz after the way gaetz behaved when questioning the General. Given the allegations against him it is a shame that mccarthy allows him to continue to be on committees and behave in such a fashion.

[bluewater]

30. K&R

[Skittles]

33. sorry

this one seems like a fucking no-brainer

Most of all, he should have pulled out all the spies, contractors, U.S. citizens, and Afghan helpers before pulling out all the troops.

[Demsrule86]

49. Spies are never pulled out first for good reason...

And it was not possible to pull out the US citizens...some who did not want to go...and Trump made sure there were no Afghans brought here during his term...so you are wrong. I will not join the media and Fox in destroying Biden's presidency using this crap. The part at the end is opinion...and flaming yellow journalism...disastrous my ass. We got thousands of people out with a minimum loss of life...Thank you President Biden for ending this was started by draft dodger George Bush.

[lpbk2713]

35. We'll never hear that on Faux Snooze.

---

[umbulali wefisi]

36. Doing the right thing!

When I heard my President was going to end the never-ending war in Afghanistan,I decided that was the right thing to do and no matter what happened,I would not join the naysayers in their criticism.Good job,Mr. President!

[LymphocyteLover]

38. "Most of all, he should have pulled out all the spies, contractors, U.S. citizens, and Afghan" WTF?

They were warned to get out for ages, Biden can't make them leave so easily. Afghan SIVs were blocked by the Trump fucks. This was no misstep for Biden, but a trap he had no choice but to go into.

Pull out all the spies? How does that make sense to get them out first???

[JI7]

46. Contractors and Citizens and some others had been told for a long time to get out

and they kept telling them to get out .

But as long as the US was there and the then Afghan govt was in place they were not going to leave. It took Taliban actually coming to power for them to make the decision to leave .

[themaguffin]

47. This was already a known matter

[Demsrule86]

48. Sorry, the U.S. Citizens had months to get out and the contractors too...their companies getting

rich on Uncle Sam's dime should have sent them home...as far as I know the spies did get out so this is a bunch of bullshit...of course Biden was right but the media has to get in their lies and bullshit...with the 'disastrous missteps' crap.