3. Well, at least he should have been better prepared for the chaos.
I’m going to give you this one, but it should be noted that efforts to prepare were rebuffed. The Afghan government did not want the United States beginning mass evacuations for the reasons cited in No. 2.
We did not abandon our friends
4. Washington could have given those in jeopardy more warning.
No. Trump said he wanted out when he ran in 2016 and signed a deal with an earlier deadline last year. Biden ran in 2020 saying he would leave. The State Department ordered some federal employees to leave in April.
5. America abandoned our allies.
No. Some of those allies left before we did. Canada left in 2014 but has returned in recent days to help with the evacuation. All knew for years of U.S. discussions regarding departure, and the Trump deal and announced departure early last year. And there has been close coordination during the evacuation process. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has convened meetings every other day with nearly 30 allied and other nations.
6. The evacuation was bungled.
No. It started off badly but turned out to be masterful. The administration and the military adapted quickly. The airlift is one of the biggest in U.S. military history; about 114,400 people had been evacuated as of Sunday.
7. The U.S. departure from Afghanistan will make it a potential breeding ground for terror again.
Afghanistan has been a dangerous place all 20 years America has been there. The swift and inevitable Taliban return to power and the airport attack by ISIS-K, the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, show that won’t change. Meanwhile, there has been a massive increase in terror threats worldwide. Afghanistan is no longer the epicenter of the threat, and we must adapt. We have many tools to respond, as the drone strikes against ISIS-K illustrate.
8. People will be left behind.
It is wildly unrealistic to think the United States could remove everyone at risk from Afghanistan. What’s being done is above and beyond expectations. Other forms of political, diplomatic and economic pressure must be used to promote human rights in Afghanistan.
9. We could easily have left troops there indefinitely.
No. There was a cost to that and a risk. The risk grew as the Taliban grew in strength. Trump accelerated that with the release of prisoners held by the Afghan government and his announced May 1 departure date. Staying would have required a bigger investment.
10. But we have left troops in Germany and South Korea.
Not comparable. Those are allied nations facing real imminent threats from major enemies who pose a strategic risk to the United States. We have no similar ongoing interest in Afghanistan.
Troops are not always the answer
11. But the troops could have protected women and girls.
First, as noted, the Taliban were gaining strength for years – despite the presence of the troops. Second, troops are not the means we advance such interests anywhere else. It is not a sustainable or effective approach.
12. But Biden and his team say human rights are at the center of our foreign policy.
That can be true without deploying troops to confront all threats to rights. It must be. Because we’ll never do that. Are critics suggesting deployments now to Ethiopia? Myanmar? To protect women elsewhere?
13. The debate about Biden’s performance is not about getting out of Afghanistan. Trying to make it about that is an effort to deflect and distract.
No. Getting out of Afghanistan is the central issue, marking a major shift in U.S. policy. It is about ending a 20-year war. It is about acknowledging a massive U.S. foreign policy failure and shifting to new priorities. That’s the point.
14. Biden was part of the problem; he has known about this all along.
No. Biden has been arguing to wind this down for 12 years. When he was vice president, his view was overruled by President Barack Obama. And after 9/11, almost everyone supported going in after al-Qaida. For good reason.
15. But … but … it’s messy and painful.
Right. As Carnegie Endowment Senior Fellow Stephen Wertheim has noted, “You don’t get to lose a war and expect the result to look like you won it.”
Bottom line: The airlift is a major logistical achievement. Tragically, in exiting a war like this, some chaos and deaths were inevitable. But getting out was right – and long overdue.
David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) is a member of the USA TODAY Board of Contributors, host of “Deep State Radio,” and CEO of the Rothkopf Group media and podcasting company specializing in international issues. This column was adapted from a Twitter thread.
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