Afghanistan

The rapid-fire fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban yesterday was the most sickening news development since the election of Trump to the presidency, which in turn was the most sickening news development since 9/11 and the “preventative war” against Iraq that followed it.

The baleful ramifications of Biden’s miscalculation regarding Afghanistan may embolden propagandistic disinformation machines: Biden lied to us about Afghanistan; what makes you think he isn’t lying to us about vaccines, or about claiming that he didn’t steal the election. Loss of faith in Biden’s judgment could be the tipping point that enables Republicans to take control of Congress in 2022, which in turn could lead to the conversion of our country from a democracy to authoritarian rule.

In an astute column in yesterday’s Washington Post, Max Boot reviewed the major blunders relating to Afghanistan made by each of Biden’s three predecessors: Bill Clinton, G.W. Bush, and Barrack Obama, each of them appalling in their wrong-headedness, but none matching Biden’s thoughtlessness in the way he withdrew American forces without regard to the unacceptably disastrous consequences that would very likely ensue.

Correction: The above blog contains an inexplicable error, which I comment on in my blog of August 22.