There is no doubt that the execution on the withdrawal from Afghanistan to end of US presence in the region and evacuate our citizens as well as aliies was imperfect. A mission that complicated doesnt happen without errors. But the final results are, quite frankly, extraordinary. The biggest human airlift in American history, moving nearly 124,000 people in 2 weeks, cannot be, by definition, judged "a Failure," A little over a week after the complete withdrawal of US forces, the Kabul airport reopened for commercial flights and an additional 200 dual nationals, including US citizens and green card holders, were alllowed to leave the city.
But still, critics, pundits and naysayers are still trying to cut out the heart of Joe Biden for the conduct of the effort. So, if evacuating 124,000 people isnt good enough, then what did they think was missing???? These same critics kept their eyes glued to the screens of television, laptops, Android phones, etc., to see the images plastered on screens and print---the chaos of the scenes broke American hearts and had an especially painful impact on those who served in Afghanistan. But how on earth could a few thousand troops and a handful of diplomats prevent any nation---let alone a nation of nearly 40 million people---from a descent into pandemonium after its citizens watched their public institutions disappear overnight, their president flee the country and its 300,000 member military, trained under US leadership, throw down their arms to a quickly advancing Taliban force??? This is the most egregious argument of the "execute better" crowd. Its reasonable to argue the Biden administration should have seen the rapid collapse coming, but they could not have stopped a panicked, mad rush on the airport. As one Taliban leader said "If you hear that the Americans are at the airport flying people out, how are you not going to go there?"
Another criticism is Biden "didnt get everyone out. Biden left hundreds of Americans who wanted to be rescued stranded, trapped behind "Taliban-controlled lines", tweeted by Sen, Dan Sullivan (R-AK). This argument has real problems. 1st, recall that the Biden administration recommended to Americans in Afghanistan to leave the country nineteen (19!) times before the collapse. They repeated this warning over and over because they knew the difficulty and danger to evacuate Americans after our withdrawal. This does not mean that the President doesnt have an obligation to do every single thing in his power, to get every single American out of the country, even the American citizens who ignored the warnings. What it does mean is that the blame for the difficulty of the post-war collapse extradition doesnt fall entirely on his shoulders.
The "dont leave anyone behind" argument also suffers from a lack of sincerity. In the history of warfare, never has there been an expectation that the departing force take with it everyone who does not want to live under the new regime. I hate the fact that women, girls and former Afghan govt employees are going to be or have already been targeted by the Taliban. For many, Taliban rule----like the regimes of North Korea, Turkmenistan or even Saudi Arabia----will be violently repressive. But this is a great tragedy of war: there is no way to help every single person at risk. There arent enough countries willing to accept hundreds of thousands of legal refugees.
So the Biden administration got it right by prioritizing human life, first and foremost. US officials and military commanders on the ground did not have time to evaluate how much equipment could fit on the planes with people. Human life comes first. Money can be replaced.
@majus12 @mahb @Allied2651 @utatem @krvanness @BreakingCane