Rapid Fire Ruination

The descent of Afghanistan into chaos and into total control of the country by the terrorist Taliban has happened with head spinning rapidity. Looking at the timeline, in April President Biden announced a full troop withdraw would be coming. May 1st was the announcement that troops would begin to fully withdraw, but it was the July 6th evacuation of the Bagram Air Force Base that accelerated the spiral of complete Taliban takeover of the country. A month later, provincial capitals began to collapse and in just over five weeks, the capital Kabul has descended into chaos.

Also, in early July, President Biden insisted that “this is not like Saigon, there will be no airlifts from U.S. embassies”. Words to regret no doubt.

I was finishing high school in the Spring of 1975 when Saigon fell. There was no CNN at the time but nevertheless, we saw the images come into our living rooms over those two days of distress and fear.

It was heartbreaking then and it is heartbreaking now.

And it is different in that the Taliban has never confined its war against Western Imperialism to within its borders. Before 9-11, Afghanistan was the breeding ground of Al-Queda and chief exporter of Muslim extremist terrorism throughout the world.

The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) releases an annual report on terrorism each Fall. It can be seen here https://visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/GTI-2020-web-1.pdf

The report provides graphics and percentages of increase or decline in terrorism.

While there are plenty of sound arguments for withdraw from an over twenty year war, the failure of how that withdraw was executed will be enduring. Ham handed comes to mind, why didn’t we get more of our people out before the evacuation of Bagram? And did we fully extract the hundreds of Afghans who assisted the United States forces all these years?

Why was it necessary to send in 5,000 fresh U.S. Troops, putting them in harm’s way?

Couldn’t much of this been avoided?

And how could we have avoided turning the Taliban into victors?

A few years ago we went to Shanksville, Pennsylvania for the anniversary of 9-11. They had installed a bell tower and were holding special dedication ceremonies at the site. It was a sobering experience, different from the 9-11 Memorial in New York. In Shanksville, you spend time looking at an empty field and understanding that the most courageous people in the world gave up their lives in Shanksville to spare Washington, D.C.

In the museum is a bank of about four phones. You pick them up and listen to voicemail messages of those aboard Flight 93 calling their loved ones to say goodbye. One woman in particular moved me to tears. Her message were instructions to her sister that her important documents were in the safe and she gave her the pass codes. Her voice was calm and determined as she said “goodbye.” Even in what she knew were her last minutes, she was thinking of her family and how to make it easier for them to execute her estate.

I turned from that phone bank and behind me were two young men. They had also just listened to the messages. Curious, I asked them what made them come to the museum, it had been at least fifteen years since 9-11. I learned they were Indian and had just learned about Shanksville in recent weeks. We chatted for a bit and then I said “You have your Mumbai. We must never let this happen again.” They said “Yes, we have Mumbai.” Then one gave me a hug.

Terrorism is a global issue, as a problem it is not an issue confined to any one country.

We’re going to Shanksville again for the 20th Anniversary of 9-11. I reserved 3 hotel rooms so my grown children and their partners can attend with us. While they remember 9-11, it happened when they were teens. I felt like it was a chance to remind them never to forget.

I have been long dissatisfied with American foreign policy and frankly with liberal American foreign policy. It is far too often driven by politics versus sound judgment. What we see now in Afghanistan is one such example of politics driving policy.

What I am hoping is that what has just happened in Afghanistan will not come back to bite us.

Update: After watching the horrific evacuation efforts of the last few weeks, here is an organization that is working to airlift minorities, Christians and other faith groups, women, children, gay/straight...it doesn't matter. If they were left behind, this fund provides planes to transport them out of country. https://thenazarenefund.org