US and Taliban signs deal for an American withdrawal

[barbara]

I think this is more complicated than Trump did this and Biden did that.....

We trained Afghan forces for twenty years and gave them what they needed to defend themselves and, it seems to me, they just gave up and surrendered without a fight.

I can't help but think the Afghans share some of the responsibility.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by barbara

I think this is more complicated than Trump did this and Biden did that.....

We trained Afghan forces for twenty years and gave them what they needed to defend themselves and, it seems to me, they just gave up and surrendered without a fight.

I can't help but think the Afghans share some of the responsibility.

Agreed. But here's what I've been thinking about this...

If we had withdrawn five years ago the outcome would have been the same. If we remained for another five years the outcome would be the same. Because...

We had three presidents with 20 years of opportunity to use all the enormous power of the US military to at least attempt to drive out/kill off the Taliban for good. And not one of them had the guts to deal with the bad press, the disillusioned electorate, the accusations of racism, and the fear of not being re-elected to take the necessary action and make it happen. So it was left to Joe Biden to have the guts to stand up in front of the cameras and say...whatever the outcome, we are done with this war.

Thank you, Joe.