Can you think of any other time in history that a nation, let alone a “superpower,” just gave up without first losing, that took their ball and went home?
Actually it’s worse than that. Our “leaders” left the ball behind for the other kids to play with. And the old saying that actions speak louder than words cannot be demonstrated more clearly than the Biden administration’s retreat from Afghanistan.
They can yammer at the microphone all they want. But those are just meaningless words. Their actions tell the true and tragic story of what is currently being told and what horrible chapters are left to be written.
The Taliban should be thanking this feckless bunch in the White House. Thanks to the Biden administration, the Taliban and their terrorist beneficiaries now have one of the most well-armed and advanced militaries in the world. Estimates of upwards of $85 billion in weapons and armament were left behind. No one cared to even destroy the multiple stockpiles of weapons, vehicles and aircraft, much less bothered to bring it all home.
The future cost of life and limb will likely be more consequential because of the weapons they left, but still – $85 billion? That’s a crap load of money – or at least it used to be. But I guess not anymore, not when we’re now talking about multiple trillions.
As a veteran, of course I want our military to be the best-equipped, but as a conservative, I also know that the Defense Department is as bloated and mismanaged as every other federal department.
I’ve advocated for years that the military, as every other department and agency, could withstand a 50% cut in their budget and be just fine. Maybe then, those in charge wouldn’t be so cavalier about peeing away $85 billion.
Perhaps if someone renamed the weaponry “infrastructure,” we would have saved it. Just a thought.
Some may say that it’s not a big deal. The Taliban probably don’t know how to operate a lot of it anyway. Although, so far that doesn’t appear to be an issue, owing to the victory parade with all our equipment. There was even video of one of our Black Hawk helicopters flying over the parade. Oh, and there are also reports that the Taliban is already moving weapons and equipment into Iran. But don’t worry. We can trust the mullahs to help us fight terrorism.
Even if were the case that the weapons’ new owners don’t have the know-how to use them, it won’t be an issue – not when their new allies are China and Russia. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to teach the terrorists and maybe even reverse engineer some of the more advanced items, like our latest drone technology.
And that segues nicely into the China Belt and Road initiative, a trade route that links East to West. China’s plan was originally to avoid Afghanistan, but not anymore. In July, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, met with the cofounder of the Taliban and its foreign minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Coincidentally, it was just two days before Wang met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Huh!
Now the plan is to cut the Belt and Road through the Wakhan Corridor that links China with Afghanistan. Why the interest in Afghanistan, you ask?
Never mind the opium trade that has sustained the Taliban for many years. It has been reported that Afghanistan is home to well over a trillion dollars worth of rare earth minerals.
“Supplies of minerals such as iron, copper and gold are scattered across provinces. There are also rare earth minerals and, perhaps most importantly, what could be one of the world’s biggest deposits of lithium,” reports CNN.
For obvious reasons, China wants that lithium.
So to recap, the United States spent 20 years of blood and treasure on a mission that was originally completed in the first six months.
We leave with our tail between our legs. As a result, we lose the trust of virtually every ally.
We install a useless president in Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, who is a pinhead academic from Columbia University, Obama’s alma mater, and who reportedly sneaked away from Kabul with $169 million in cash. Birds of a feather I guess.
We allow 5,000 or more al-Qaida and ISIS terrorist prisoners to be freed by the Taliban. We transport God only knows how many unvetted Afghans to America, some of whom are undoubtedly terrorists, while we unconscionably abandon Americans behind enemy lines, including a group of California school students.
We arm-up what will likely become the largest, most well-funded terrorist organization the world has ever seen, and then sit back and watch while our No. 1 enemy, China, swoops in and reaps the reward.
I think that about wraps it up.
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