Biden kept promise of other presidents to get out

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Sid Schwab / Herald columnist

If the light-speed collapse of Afghanistan proves anything, it’s that, from day two, our involvement was a predestined failure. It did, however, make weapons manufacturers, Afghan “officials” and warlords rich; and goosed the opium and meth industries. (Foreign Policy: tinyurl.com/getmeth4u)

Any president would have retaliated after 9-11. Bush chose invasion. Alternatives are hard to conjure, so probably all others would have, too. Severe economic sanctions on the birthplace, funders and protectors of al-Qaida, namely Saudi Arabia, would have made sense, had we not been addicted to their oil, nor our politicians to their cash. Only one legislator, California’s Barbara Lee, foresaw the inevitable and voted against the war.

And it was inevitable. Not for nothing, across centuries, has Afghanistan been considered the graveyard of empires. With its neighbors looking the other way or aiding the Taliban, “winning” from half a world away was exceptionalistic, neo-con hubris.

Had Donald Rumsfeld not let Osama bin Laden escape when they had him in Tora Bora, the U.S. could have claimed “Mission Accomplished” and left. Maybe then, basking in victory, Bush’s Iraq invasion — and the lies behind it — wouldn’t have occurred. But invade we did. If the die wasn’t already cast in Kabul, it was then.

-snip-

Desperate to be the one who ended the war, Trump “negotiated” an art-of-the-deal with the Taliban, committing the U.S. to complete withdrawal, leaving out of it the Afghan government and military leaders, who called it a complete capitulation.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/schwab-biden-kept-promise-of-other-presidents-to-get-out/

[Skittles]

1. all others would NOT have invaded

I think a Dem would have targeted Bin Laden - in the end, it's always Dems who to finish the job and clean up the mess.