But, Esper told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, "my concern was that President Trump, by continuing to want to withdraw American forces out of Afghanistan, undermined the agreement, which is why in the fall when he was calling for a return of US forces by Christmas, I objected and formally wrote a letter to him, a memo based on recommendations from the military chain of command and my senior civilian leadership that we not go further -- that we not reduce below 4,500 troops unless and until conditions were met by the Taliban."
I just have one question for all those placing the blame for the Afghanistan debacle on the doorstep of President Donald Trump:
ReplyDeleteHad the troop withdrawal gone flawlessly without a hitch would these same pundits be lavishing President Trump with praise right now?
Again, Trump. Blame Trump. Because otherwise you'd have to admit that it's Biden's fault.
ReplyDeleteOf course there would be no deal with the Taliban. Trump knew that. But Biden mishandled this and cut and ran instead of giving one last good thumping and who's fault is it? Trump!
Out of curiousity, how many more years are you going to blame Trump for the Dem's failings?
You know, we had a Conservative government for 8 years in Ontario in the late 90's and early 00's. They were eventually replaced by a Liberal government that, from the get-go, was barely competent and openly corrupt. Every time one of their plans fell apart, they would blame the previous Conservative premier. They even won re-election. And then late into their second term at a press conference they again addressed one of their failings by blaming the previous Conservative premier and a reporter asked "It's been almost 10 years since he left office, how long as you going to keep blaming him for your mistakes!?"
ReplyDeleteYou know what I wanna know? The US left behind a well-armed and trained 300 000 strong army. Where are they right now?
ReplyDeleteor, it is Trump's fault, and Biden is just saying "he made me do it"
ReplyDeleteTrump is also to blame, Biden just fulfilled his orders.
I've spent a lot of time researching this question. Because it goes to the heart of what happened in Afghanistan. And it is possibly the key to understanding what might happen in other situations if and when the United States pulls back. For example, what would happen if there is a U.S. President and Congress that pulls back from supplying the State of Israel with military aid, weapons, parts for weapons, and/or stands by if there there is a fuel embargo against the State of Israel?
ReplyDeleteThe following is condensed from a numberbof online sources.
It was pointed out that the 300,000 number was inflated. It included say 100,000 soldiers who were men who signed up for the army but just collected paychecks and didn't serve.
Apparently many units, while trained, were not trained for or experienced so much in combat.
Yet, for all that, the Afghan army for years had suffered casualties in the thousands -- once the army was established the army suffered more casualties per year than the U.S. military suffered over the entirety of the twenty year occupation.
It wasn't till I reviewed a recent interview of Donald Trump by Greg Kelly of Newsmax that I got what I consider the definitive answer.
Donald Trump pointed out that the soldiers in the Afghan army were paid well for their service. And he hypothesized that their salary was their main incentive for fighting. Once the U.S. signaled the gravy train was ending, the soldiers basically, in my words, laid down their arms.
This explanation is simple and fits all the facts. It is consistent with another data point: According to Jared Howe of the the So to Speak blog, "On Friday, the central bank of Afghanistan was informed that dollar shipments would stop. On Saturday, the central bank’s governor fled the country. On Sunday, the Taliban took control of Kabul."
He had no obligation to "just fulfill his orders" especially if they were going to lead to this chaos.
ReplyDeleteNope, this one is on Biden.