We're Led By Clowns and Cowards
Our national humiliation will not end in Kabul.
Let this sink in: the Taliban, a ragtag of militant Islam extremists, conquered the entire nation of Afghanistan in 11 days. Their stunning and speedy conquest has coincided with the United States’ equally stunning but way more humiliating and chaotic retreat.
I do not want to debate the merit of America’s two decades of military engagement in Afghanistan. There is plenty of blame to go around for both Republicans and Democrats. But if we decide to leave Afghanistan, the least we should have done is to leave in a dignified and well-planned manner. More importantly, we should ensure that we do not leave American citizens, allies, and those Afghans who helped us behind.
Instead, our retreat has been disorderly and undignified. When Joe Biden first announced the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the United States had about 2,500 soldiers in the nation. Since then, the U.S. military pulled soldiers out, closed military bases and airfields, cut off air supports, and stopped sending supplies to the Afghan army months in advance, all while the Taliban was mounting an offense.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “The Afghan army fighting alongside American troops was molded to match the way the Americans operate, “meaning they “relies heavily on combining ground operations with airpower, using aircraft to resupply outposts, strike targets, ferry the wounded, and collect reconnaissance and intelligence.” Without the U.S. airpower support, many Afghan soldiers, poorly fed and paid, simply gave up. The Afghan army quickly collapsed, allowing the Taliban to overtake the nation in less than two weeks and gain valuable U.S. military supplies such as military vehicles, drones, and others. The Taliban has been parading these bounties as recruitment tools to inspire other Jihadists to join their cause.
For months, leaders of our intelligence community, U.S. military brass, and the Biden administration had told us as well as themselves that this would never happen. They were all caught off guard when the Taliban showed up in Kabul in less than two weeks. Then the Biden administration scrambled to airlift embassy staff and civilians out of Kabul airport, a commercial airport that hadn’t been secured until now. The images of desperate Afghans tried to get on U.S. Air force planes, especially the image of two Afghans falling off a plane in midair, will haunt our moral conscience for a long time. The Biden administration reportedly pleaded with the Taliban not to obliterate the U.S. embassy by promising future U.S. financial aid. Still, the flag flying on top of the U.S. embassy building in Kabul right now is not the American flag. The Wall Street Journal describes what’s happening in Afghanistan as “Saigon on steroids.”
At least 10,000 Americans, thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S., and U.S. allies are still in Kabul, and the Taliban is reportedly doing a house-by-house search to find them. President Biden ordered 5,000 troops back to Afghanistan, hoping to evacuate as many people as we could. But there is no doubt in my mind that we won’t be able to rescue all of them. Some will become hostages. It is scary to imagine how they would be treated. According to American Afghanistan war veterans, Afghans who helped the U.S. are “folks who invested in the American dream even before they became Americans.” Trapped in Kabul now, these folks are afraid that the Taliban will kill them and their families. In the meantime, Afghan girls and women are concerned that they will lose all the freedom and equal rights they have enjoyed for the last twenty years. The Taliban already declared that they would impose Sharia Law in Afghanistan.
Yet, even more shocking is that while the events unfolding in Kabul and the United States face an unprecedented credibility crisis on the international stage, President Biden has been hiding in Camp David for vacation. The White House released a photo, which supposedly depicting Biden at work in Camp David. But sharp-eyed Twitter crowd immediately identified two problems. First, clocks on the wall didn’t show the right times, fueling the rumor that the photo was taken sometime in the past. Another problem is that one image appeared to reveal that the CIA had an operation in Doha. Is there any more doubt that clowns and cowards lead us?
Biden only came out of his vacation briefly to talk about Afghanistan. His speech made the matter worse because all he did was blaming everyone else except himself, criticizing everyone else except the Taliban, and refusing to take any responsibility for the U.S.’s disgraceful retreat. And then, he went back to Camp David to continue his vacation while thousands of Americans, U.S. allies, and Afghans who helped us languishing in Kabul, not sure if they would live to see another day. Biden’s national security adviser also confirmed that Biden hasn’t even spoken to any world leader since Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban. It seems he doesn’t care if the world is on fire. By the way, the White House spokesperson Jen Psaki is on vacation too. Is there any more doubt that clowns and cowards lead us?
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board called Biden’s speech dishonest” and went on writing this, “The world has seen a President portraying surrender as an act of political courage, and retreat as strategic wisdom.” In an interview with MSNBC, U.S. Army veteran Matt Zeller blew up Biden’s claim that his administration had planned for every contingency they could think of. I encourage you to watch Zeller’s interview here. Zeller said he and his team had warned the Biden administration about the Taliban’s offensive moves. He had sent the administration plan after plan on having an orderly retreat and not leaving American civilians and Afghans who helped us behind. Rather than following or at least considering Zeller’s plans, the Biden administration went ahead with no serious pursuit of an orderly retreat at all.
The administration focused on other matters. For example, the U.S. embassy in Kabul made sure it raised a rainbow flag to celebrate pride month; that the embassy had a dedicated office and staff to promote diversity and inclusion; and the University of Kabul is teaching gender studies to young Afghan men and women. Rather than concerning the Taliban, U.S. military brass was more concerned about countering “white rage” in the United States. They were busy assigning readings such as “White Fragility” and “How to be an Anti-Racist” to American soldiers as Taliban militants took over Afghanistan at lightning speed. Early this week, a U.S. State Department spokesperson urged the Taliban to establish an “inclusive and representative government,” as if the woke talk has the magic power to convince the Taliban to turn Afghanistan into a progressive utopia. Seriously, why should anyone be surprised that a disgraceful retreat from Afghanistan is what we got? Is there any more doubt that clowns and cowards lead us?
But our national humiliation will not end in Kabul. From Beijing to Moscow to Tehran, our adversaries are likely to exploit the Biden administration’s weakness and incompetence to their advantage (please see my piece on China). For example, Iran is reportedly accelerating its uranium enrichment to near weapons-grade levels, while the Biden administration is giving up all the U.S. leverage and begging the Mullah’s to come back to the negotiation table.
Needless to say that the Biden administration’s chaotic and humiliating retreat has delighted our adversaries, made the U.S. less safe, and sent chills to our allies. Many of our allies probably ask themselves why they should support any U.S.-led initiative in the future if the U.S. is such an untrustworthy partner?
There are many dark days ahead of us. But we are Americans and we never give up. What should we do, then? First, please pray for our country. Second, please reach out to Afghanistan war veterans and families. From what I know, these last couple of days have been tough for many of them emotionally and psychologically as they watch their years of sacrifice be washed away like this. Third, please make sure you participate in upcoming elections, whether it is about city councils, school boards, county commissioners, and others. No election is too insignificant to ignore. We need to vote for genuinely principled and courageous leaders at every level. The last seven months, especially the last few days, have been a painful reminder that elections have consequences. May God bless America.
My latest op-ed in the Federalist
It is easy to think the Taliban is the biggest winner in Afghanistan, since it has overtaken the entire nation in days as the United States, once clearly the most powerful nation on earth, pulled out of Afghanistan in the most humiliating fashion. But in the larger geopolitical context, the real biggest winner in Afghanistan is the Chinese Communist Party. Read it here.