The question of withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan is quite complex. With the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban two historical events come to mind. First, the Turkish conquest of Smyrna in September 1922 which led to the final genocide and mass exterminations of the Greek and Armenian Christian populations of that city. As with the Taliban today, there was a sense of dread that preceded the Kemalist entry in Smyrna in 1922.
The second example that comes to mind is the rise of ISIS in 2014 when they took over Mosul and over one third of Iraq. The Iraqi army retreated before the armies of ISIS which would go on to take over one third of territory in Syria and would institute policies of genocide and would create slave markets that sold Yazidi women. Both the Turks and ISIS committed crimes against humanity.
The President made a decision on Afghanistan. Whether it was right or wrong is open to debate and interpretation. The major blame for the war in Afghanistan which has dragged on for twenty years lies with the Bush administration. Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld could not win the war in eight years and the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations inherited this war. Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld invaded Iraq in which they badly miscalculated what would happen.
One can not avoid being moved by the prospect of what might happen to the people of Afghanistan when American forces withdraw. As a Greek fully cognizant of what happened to the Greeks and the Armenians after the Turkish victories of 1922, I am sympathetic to the people who might be massacred following an American withdrawal. The situation is complicated by the fact that after twenty years, the Afghani government and military cannot stand on its own two feet.
The major failure of the Biden administration is not the decision to withdraw, but the manner in which it has chosen to withdraw. It has proceeded to withdraw without taking into consideration the horrors awaiting many innocent people when the Taliban takes over the whole country. The political decision to withdraw is the correct one. The indifference to the humanitarian crisis that is beginning to take shape is what may condemn the Biden administration’s legacy.
On the other hand, the neocons are expressing anger at the Biden administration and are prepared to blame Biden for the mess in Afghanistan. The neocons have never seen a war they did not like. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Crimea are the results of neo con warmongering.
Much evil resulted from the neocons invasion of Iraq. Inter religious bloodletting and civil war resulted from the Bush-Cheney war. The civil war led ultimately to genocide against Shiite Muslims and the subsequent rise of Mesopotamia in Iraq, an Al-Quada affiliate that was the forerunner of ISIS. From Iraq came the war in Syria and the greater tensions with Russia.
As a result of the war in Iraq, Greece and Europe were flooded with refugees that destabilized those societies with the rise of fascist extremist groups. Most of us agreed that the intervention in Afghanistan was justified on the grounds that the Taliban gave refuge to Al Quada which planned the 9/11 attacks from its soil. Al Quada was quickly destroyed. The desire of the Bush administration to pursue a policy of “nation building” has turned out to be madness.
It is the Bush administration that failed to win the war in Afghanistan and it is the neocons who bear the greatest responsibility for Afghanistan. The neocons live in a make believe world where the rest of the world desires to be westernized and to be like America and Europe. Such a view is based in fantasy and demonstrates that the neocons do not understand religion or nationalism.
Biden and his foreign policy team can be held responsible for the manner in which they have chosen to withdraw. The greater responsibility for losing the war lies with the criminal administration of Bush-Cheney. The neocons have not wasted any time in denouncing the Biden administration while totally ignoring their own responsibilities regarding Afghanistan and Iraq.
If at all possible, the Biden administration should seek to delay the withdrawal from Afghanistan. The goal now is what it should have been previously. Humanitarianism to prevent mass slaughter and a refugee crisis, and not nation building.
Neo con hysterics have been on the airwaves discussing the effectiveness of the Afghani military. This despite the fact that after twenty years, the Afghani military cannot stand alone against the Taliban. The victory of the Taliban is not the Biden administration’s fault.
There is also a good deal of hypocrisy from the neocons and others who are castigating the Biden administration. When the Trump administration (and I am a Trump supporter) abandoned the Syrian Kurds to their fate against the Turks there was no similar outrage compared to that in response to the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Ultimately, there were no good choices regarding Afghanistan. There is one moral lesson to take away from both Afghanistan and Iraq. Avoid unnecessary wars and give up the whole idea of nation building.