Leaving Afghanistan

President Biden has gotten over hundred thousand people out of Afghanistan - Americans and Afghan allies alike - since the evacuation of the country began, and he has remained firm in getting the U.S. extricated from the country entirely as this new more dangerous variant of ISIS plans to take the fight to . . . the Taliban.  He's already hit back at ISIS-K for a terror attack on the airport in Kabul.  And he's had to do all of this on the fly as the Afghan government that the United States helped set up collapsed much faster than anyone ever expected.  Most Americans want to get out of Afghanistan.  Biden will have plenty of time to focus on domestic issues once the withdrawal is complete, such as COVID, the economy, and the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.  And he will continue to work with the Taliban or whoever else can help us to get more people with right of travel out of Afghanistan even after the final stage of the evacuation tomorrow.

So why is Biden getting all of this abuse?

It's understandable that Biden would get bashed by Republicans, who are still working on regaining - and keeping - power.  Harder to understand is the coverage from the press - until you remember that the press always loves to sensationalize war, even though it couldn't be bothered to give Afghanistan any coverage for the past ten years.  Easier to understand, alas, are all of the armchair militarists who haven't seen combat in decades and continue to weigh in on the evacuation as seasoned military "experts" on cable news.

Hopefully, this will be be a rough patch for Biden that he can quickly recover from once the mission in Afghanistan is over, just as President Ford - who was far less straightforward and far less involved in the withdrawal from Vietnam than Biden has been about the withdrawal from Afghanistan - was able to get past the fall of Saigon.  But Biden also has to face something else that Ford faced - a stagnant economy with runaway inflation, and a pandemic as well, something even Ford didn't have to worry about.  

The COVID pandemic could end up being Biden's undoing, as it could undermine the economic recovery of the past seven months.  The only way to get it under control is to get more people vaccinated, and the people who need to get the shot are the same people whose voting fingers are getting itchy while waiting to vote Republican in the midterms and the presidential election.  Republicans, including Trump-style governors who play down the pandemic, are actually helping themselves retain and expand power by doing nothing about it and allowing it worsen and bring down Biden.

I predict that America will have no reason to celebrate its sestercentennial in 2026.  We'll likely be under martial law by then, with storm troopers having already marched down Pennsylvania Avenue during the 2025 inauguration of Biden's Republican successor.