It's not like the Trump administration would have done better leaving Afghanistan. Once Trump decided to negotiate behind the back of the Afghan government, the disastrous withdrawal was foradained.
The DoD and teh CIA told him the government would hold out for at last two weeks. If they had, everything probably would have worked out. In fact, the Taliban was in Kabul as soon as they could ride their crappy motorbikes there.
I'm no expert on the particulars, so I'll defer to those who are, but I'm not convinced that it didn't have to be a disaster. I can certainly conceive of it going much worse. Not to minimize things, but more Americans died in the Blackhawk down incident.
We had a wolf by the ears and came away bleeding. Not exactly shocking.
And as for bungling, which US president in memory would have reached in with direct control and prevented those suicide bombings?
It's not like the Trump administration would have done better leaving Afghanistan. Once Trump decided to negotiate behind the back of the Afghan government, the disastrous withdrawal was foradained.
The withdrawal didn't have to be a disaster. Biden did bungle that badly. But would Trump have bungled the withdrawal? Of course he would have.
The DoD and teh CIA told him the government would hold out for at last two weeks. If they had, everything probably would have worked out. In fact, the Taliban was in Kabul as soon as they could ride their crappy motorbikes there.
So the DoD and the CIA bungled it?
Trump ensured the government would have no reason to fight. The DoD should have told Biden that.
I'm no expert on the particulars, so I'll defer to those who are, but I'm not convinced that it didn't have to be a disaster. I can certainly conceive of it going much worse. Not to minimize things, but more Americans died in the Blackhawk down incident.
We had a wolf by the ears and came away bleeding. Not exactly shocking.
And as for bungling, which US president in memory would have reached in with direct control and prevented those suicide bombings?
"We had a wolf by the ears and came away bleeding" - well put.