The United States signed a historic deal with Taliban insurgents on Saturday that could pave the way toward a full withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Afghanistan over the next 14 months and represent a step toward ending the 18-year-war there.The cynicism is pretending that the Taliban won't take over the country. The cynicism is that the government in Afghanistan was not a signatory to this agreement. The cynicism on the Right will come from their closing their eyes to this, a deal that if it had been made by President Obama, would have been denounced as a sellout by the very people who will now say that this is a good thing.
Let's not forget that the war was lost when Bush43 turned his back on Afghanistan so that he and Lord Cheney-Voldemort could go play Sand Invaders in Iraq. But that's a degree of neglect he came by honestly, as when his dad was president, he refused to help Afghanistan in any meaningful way once the Soviets left. That was all from the GOP's two tenets of what government is supposed to do: 1) Make the rich richer; and 2) Kill people.
The facts on the ground have pretty much mandated that we were going to leave and the Taliban was going to return to power. That's been obvious for the last fourteen years, if not longer. So one could argue that Trump is recognizing reality.
But spinning it as anything other than a sellout of the Afghan people who cast their lot with us is breathtakingly dishonest.
How the Afgani operators and interpreters are treated will tell the tale .
ReplyDeleteIf they are abandoned and refused visas .....
Not a single one will get visas if Trump's immigration guy, Oberführer Miller, has anything to say about it.
ReplyDeleteHerr Mueller, I mean Miller will have a lot to say about it. He saw right through those rag heads for cripes sake. This'll teach em. Sorry channeling my inner base.
ReplyDeleteWe are about to do in Afghanistan what we did in Viet Nam — abandon those who supported us, fought with and for us, and sacrificed for us. What next? Will we find ourselves kicking desperate Afghanis off our helicopter skids, as we did in Saigon?
ReplyDeleteThe word about American disloyalty to those who are loyal to us gets around. In the next war — and there is always a next war — we are likely to have far fewer friends. And a lot more enemies. Enlarged American body count to follow. Not that this should bother Mr. Trump or his family. I can almost guarantee that his bone spurs are hereditary.
Yours very crankily,
The New York Crank
The Graveyard of Empires. Within a generation every empire that failed, failed.
ReplyDeleteI've been of a mind of late, Crank, that had they waited ten more years no one would remember.
And what about all that blood and treasure?
1. We should never have been there in the first place.
ReplyDelete2. The retaliation for 9-11 should have been limited to airborne annihilation.
3. The Afghan 'government' has not stepped up to the plate in any measurable way so why should we be anymore involved in this total waste of men and resources?
4. If obamy had done this you would be cheering.
Charlie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nos. 1 and 2,
As to #4, you, sir, are delusional. You are invited to peruse about twelve years' worth of blog posts to prove otherwise.
I just read through the search link you provided and saw not one word about obammy's actions or inactions in afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteSo, perhaps I am not delusional.
At least Donald didn't give them a *billion* in unaccountable cash....(and, if rumors are true, get a kickback of a couple of percentage points on the delivered greenbacks).
ReplyDeleteIf the Afghanis could have stood up, they might have a seat at the table. They can't and didn't get that seat, really.
I fully expect the Taliban't promises to be like any other middleasterners promise. Not worth the paper the treaty is written upon.
You're delusional. I've been writing about this sort of ending for over a decade.
ReplyDeleteThe cynical aspect is portraying this as anything than what it is. And you cannot, with a straight face, say that you would be doing anything other than carping if Obama had done it.
Unlike Vietnam, we won't be opening our doors to our friends who are fleeing the country. But this time, they'll be on their own when it comes to facing the vengeance of the Taliban.
If obammy had left with no strings attached, I'd have said thank you.
ReplyDeleteBut your post was not that you had been looking for this ending for years, your post was bashing President Trump for doing it.
Your cynical attitude is why I rarely stop in here anymore.
Hard to afford someone a measure of credibility when their callsign is Charlie...
ReplyDeleteI write what I want. My political views are my own.
ReplyDeleteYou aren't paying me, Charlie. Don't let the storm door hit you in the ass on your way out.
Does middle easterners include Israel, B?
ReplyDelete