President Biden faced the nation Monday to defend his policy of withdrawing troops from a war that has already outlasted three presidential administrations.
“I know my decision will be criticized,” Biden said. “But I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision on to another president of the United States, yet another one, a fifth one.”
Biden deserves a share of the blame for botching our withdrawal, likely leaving thousands of vulnerable Afghan allies on the ground who will continue to need our attention and support.
But what is happening in Afghanistan is not a failure that occurred in the last few weeks. This is a strategic failure that could have been postponed but probably not prevented.
It began with an overblown idea of what American military power could accomplish with what former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called a “light footprint,” using special forces, high technology and alliances with local war lords to control a country famously hard to control.
The Afghan war continued for nearly 20 years, despite the fact that, according to Pentagon documents published in 2019 by the Washington Post, there was never consensus about the war’s objectives or plan to end it.
It continued after Al Qaeda lost its safe-haven in the country. It continued after the successful operation to kill Osama Bin Laden.
It continued after 2,400 American combat deaths and approximately 20,000 injuries, some that are life-shattering.
About 775,000 U.S. servicemen and women served in Afghanistan over the two decades, almost half serving multiple tours of duty, compounding the traumatic strain on them as well as on their families.
The United States spent approximately $1 trillion in Afghanistan, $83 billion of it equipping and training the Afghan military. None of that was enough to prevent the Taliban, smaller in number and without sophisticated weapons, from sweeping back into power over the last week.
There are other costs we will have to live with.
Our allies will know that our commitments are not open-ended. Our adversaries will know that they can eventually wait us out if they are willing to keep fighting.
The American people should be left wondering how well we are prepared for the next security threat after yet another intelligence failure. How was the Biden administration so sure that they could make an orderly exit while the Afghan state and armed forces would take on the battle? What else are the intelligence agencies wrong about?
After the Bay of Pigs catastrophe President John F. Kennedy memorably took the blame, noting, “Victory has a thousand fathers; Defeat is an orphan.”
As we watch another military catastrophe unwind before our eyes in Afghanistan, we should have the same sense of humility.
This defeat has at least a thousand fathers and mothers, people who made bad choices that played out over almost 20 years.
As we approach the anniversary of 9/11, we should think about the War on Terror era with the horrific images from Kabul firmly in mind. We need to understand the price of our security and the limits of our power.
Correction: An earlier version of this editorial overstated the amount of money spent building Afghan security forces.
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