A variety of voices on Afghanistan from this week
The situation in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly dire each day. Thousands are still awaiting evacuations. Thirteens Americans and an unknown number of Afghans died in a bombing at the Kabul Airport this week. It seems that another attack is likely.
USA TODAY Opinion has offered columns all week that examine the region and President Biden's response.
Mr. President, get them out. Get them out now.
By The Editorial Board
There are moments in American history when the hopes of a nation turn on the next critical move a president makes.
Dwight Eisenhower's decision in 1957 to federalize the Arkansas National Guard so Black teenagers, the Little Rock Nine, could survive a trip to school was one such instance. John F. Kennedy's deft handling of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, which prevented a nuclear war, was another. As was George W. Bush's success in rallying the nation from atop the rubble of 9/11.
It's now Joe Biden's turn.
Editorial Cartoon
'Please help my family, I beg you': A plea as bombs fall in Kabul
By David Mastio
Omaid was all in for the Americans even before 9/11. His family had been driven out of Afghanistan by the Taliban, and he knew our futures were intertwined as he learned English in a Pakistani refugee camp. Back then, he would have freely used his full name because the Taliban had yet to threaten him and he didn't fear for the lives of his family.
Now Omaid is in a refugee center in the United Arab Emirates, after a flight Tuesday out of Kabul under cover of darkness. As we talk and text over WhatsApp, fighting a bad internet connection, Kabul is rocked by twin blasts that claim the lives of at least 12 U.S. service members and wound 15.
His first and last words are, "Please help my family, I beg you."
Afghanistan veteran: Defense firms won, the Taliban won, America lost
By Steven Kerns
America’s civil-military divide enables us to comfortably ignore our wars. This is easily proven: Ask an American how many countries we are bombing. Few know. The blood of our wars is cheap. This devaluation of life is a creature of privilege – and it is lethal.
We ask the few to execute the foreign policy of the many, call them heroes, and then ignore them – like during COVID-19's outbreak.
This strategy made a 20-year war politically affordable and financially profitable.
Bush and Biden made big mistakes in Afghanistan, but Bush's was bigger
By Robert Robb
President Joe Biden doesn’t deserve the blame for the Taliban taking over Afghanistan. However, he is at fault for the disorderly, dangerous and chaotic end to the U.S. involvement.
The original, and tragic, strategic miscalculation in Afghanistan was made by President George W. Bush. He repeated the error in Iraq.
After the 9/11 attack, the U.S. decided to chase the Taliban from power, since they had harbored al Qaeda. We succeeded quickly at minimum cost and without landing an invasion force. Through cash, intelligence and air support, we tilted the balance of power in a preexisting low-grade civil war against the Taliban.