Quote (Acuity @ Aug 16 2021 08:13am)
I’m totally ignorant on the topic but I feel like I just want to post my knee jerk reaction.
What was the US supposed to do, what’s the solution, and how do you help a country that either doesn’t want help or chooses not to help itself?
Well the first step is being realistic about what you can and can't do. If your strategy is based around moon logic assuming you can do the impossible, you're going to fail at doing it.
The solution was to acknowledge that the Taliban was going to take over as soon as we left, and plan accordingly. That meant evacuating people, weapons and armor before it could fall into enemy hands.
Its a fundamental of war strategy as old as time itself, the difference between a retreat and a rout.
There wasn't some magical answer where Afghanistan was left as a western-style democracy where people are represented by a free and fair central government that respects individual liberties and progressive ideals. Flying an LGBTQ rainbow flag over the US embassy during a military occupation doesn't change the fact that Afghans are a bunch of regressive islamic tribal militias who treat women and boys as sex slaves. The best outcome was an organized withdrawal and forming at least basic agreements with the Taliban to ensure a peaceful takeover. We got that 'mostly peaceful' takeover, it seems largely from maneuvering by Russia and Arab powers and the Taliban's temperance, no thanks to US diplomacy / lack thereof. We certainly didn't get the organized withdrawal, we got a full blown rout.