Since the collapse of the U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan, the takeover of the country by the Taliban, and the ISIS-K attack that …
Since the collapse of the U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan, the takeover of the country by the Taliban, and the ISIS-K attack that killed 13 American servicemen and women and 170 Afghans at Kabul airport, critics have blasted President Biden. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tied the “sickening and enraging deaths” to “the predictably chaotic wake of the president’s decision to withdraw” troops from the country. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, declared that Biden has “blood on his hands.” Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley called for his resignation or impeachment. The president’s critics have been less forthcoming about the losing hand — and lack of viable options — his three predecessors dealt him. The United States toppled the Taliban after Sept.11,2001, to ensure that Afghanistan no longer harbored Al Qaeda or any other terrorist group. In the ensuing two decades, under presidents Bush and Obama, America’s attention shifted from Afghanistan to Iraq; the goals in Afghanistan became less clear, and seemed to include “nation-building” (i.e. establishing democratic institutions, protecting and promoting education for girls and opportunities for women). The Afghan governments under Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani became hopelessly corrupt: as much as 40 percent of Department of Defense contracts — billions of dollars — ended up in the hands of criminal syndicates and government officials, and a significant percentage of Afghan military units existed only on paper, with commanders pocketing money allocated to salaries, uniforms, and weapons.
