Biden’s greatest achievement was the evacuation of our troops from Afghanistan.
Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump all failed to get us out of Afghanistan.
Biden got us out with minimum casualties – 13 U.S. military casualties – and it was one of the greatest airlift operations since the Berlin airlift. How did so many people miss that?
In military history we study military withdrawals. They are never easy, always messy and require decisive action at the top. Consider Napoleon’s withdrawal from Russia or closer to home the withdrawal from Vietnam and Cambodia. Many of us were involved or had friends involved in the evacuation of Saigon and Phnom Penh. It was not pretty.
Afghanistan is a mess because the country had despicable leaders and because Trump ordered the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters from prison, one of which became the new leader of Afghanistan. Trump had no exit strategy and failed to brief Biden’s incoming team on the situation in Afghanistan. Trump shut down every base in Afghanistan except one, limiting the United States’ ability to extract its assets safely.
Trump is unqualified to be the commander in chief. We are not going back. Harris and Walsh are the only logical choice in November.
James Callard, Col, USAF, (ret.)
Farmington
