The subtitle is probably the wrong Latin and the city is not destroyed, but for us, it might as well be.
The end of the Kabul government and ascension of the Taliban, unlike the Carthage denouement, is being televised as of this day.
For me, it is a Yogi Berra moment, “deja vu all over again.” The fall of Saigon was on TV as well. The capital of South Vietnam was entered by the Northerners around two years after my lackluster enlisted service.
It was a sad day. I may not have drunk the Kool Aid, a phrase that later gained currency, but I had been a believer in the geopolitical necessity of opposing the Communists. The results could only be bad for my country.
Am I channeling the star catcher of the New York Yankees? Another century, another withdrawal. Maybe I am overworking Yogi a bit. There are some differences. The North took some time before they approached the gates of the future Ho Chi Minh City and we had, by agreement, removed combat units from the country well beforehand.
The Taliban in contrast is just about there as our last units are trying to find the door in a here’s your hat what’s your hurry bum’s rush.
So, are we going to have who lost Kabul recriminations? Possibly, there are lot of fingers that can be pointed. Short term, Biden and his administration looks to be in for blame for not running a smooth evacuation.
I am no Biden fan. I did not vote for him or the incumbent, but that he didn’t plan the perfect scoot among all the other errors of two decades is a little much. There is a lot of blame to go around and it well predates Osama.
Much of it has to do with overthinking, one of the great vices of government types. In this case, a fellow named Zbigniew Brzezinski was the big push behind the Carter administration’s support of the mujahideen who opposed the Soviets in Afghanistan. If we could give the Commies a Vietnam of their own that could only be a magnificent geostrategic victory. Brzezinski would brag about what it had accomplished.
If Zbig had not been so smart, we may never have had any involvement with Osama. Was it necessary to get payback? Maybe the Soviets would have taken longer to lose in the Graveyard of Empires, but what was the point anyway as Russia is still the bogeyman?
Now, we leave and the material debacle is on a par with the last time. Then, the Peoples’ Army of Vietnam acquired one of the largest tank armies in the world. At Bagram the Taliban took over the world’s biggest new and used Humvee lot.
Rather than recriminate, maybe we should learn the lesson we didn’t learn from the end of Vietnam.
When the South collapsed, we had a more orderly evacuation, but end of the world predictions never happened. The dominos didn’t domino as was predicted. Actually, things got better. Soon after, it was down the memory hole. Compared to the endless movies about World War II, the cultural footprint was slight.
It was as if the Vietnamese changed their phone number and we left no forwarding address.
That is what we should do about Afghanistan. There are those such as Brookings Sinecurista, Michael E. O’Hanlon, who say we should stay to prevent another 911, but if in nearly two decades we have not got our homeland defense on track to oppose whatever ragtag band might strike us, staying in Afghanistan is not going to help.
Indeed, the Taliban is not coming after us, even if they let other franchises hang out there. A terrorist attack can happen no matter what, as it did on Marathon day in the city of my birth.
We are leaving there and should forget the place. Nothing worked. Our “ally” Pakistan, was not really that. Leaving is a better than staying. So, bring everyone in that region home and see if we survive.
Up on Long Hill, I’m willing to chance it. I survived post-Vietnam.
I take Max's words as an affirmation. https://twitter.com/MaxAbrahms/status/1439258535486009349