Was Afghanistan the "right call?"

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that President Biden made the right strategic call to withdraw from Afghanistan three years ago and that history reflects well on that decision.  I vehemently disagree with Mr. Sullivan, but I am not surprised that he would say this.  Both he and his boss have to ignore the problems that have arisen since our withdrawal from Afghanistan and emphasize what they claim to be the benefits of the decision.  I find it particularly interesting that nowhere in this conversation is any concern for the Afghan people expressed by either Sullivan or Biden.

As I have noted in earlier articles, I directed the evacuation of Danang, which was, in my mind, the result of a similar failure of resolve on our part.  In my mind, we should not have tried to replace France in Southeast Asia, but once we did, we incurred significant responsibilities that we went on to ignore when it suited us.  When I asked the Bishop of Danang if he wanted to be evacuated, he said no, he would stay with his people.  He then went on to ask; 'if you were not going to stay, why did you ever come?  His words haunt me to this day.

Afghanistan appears to be an even greater tragedy than South Vietnam in that we did not adequately facilitate the evacuation of those that helped us try to restructure that blighted country.  In Vietnam we at least got most of those that cooperated with us out of country.  I personally sponsored 36 of them and am happy to say that they adapted to their new surroundings exceedingly well.

In addition to the human tragedy that few Americans feel important, our cowardice was blatantly obvious to the entire world - friend and foe alike.  The evacuation was not only a strategic mistake but a horrendous tactical error as well. We didn't even tell our European allies that were there with us that we were leaving Baghram in the dead of night.  In addition to all of that, China has managed to increase its influence in the country since our exit, further complicating the regional security situation.

No, Afghanistan was not a good call by Biden, but I fault you and me for not demanding a better international relations effort on the part of our government - no matter which politician sits in the White House.  Trump was set on selling the Afghan people out too.  He probably would have managed our tactical exit better, but we were, as a country, bent on abandoning Afghanistan.  "If you were not going to stay, why did you ever come?"