Dishonor in Afghanistan

This is not the way to get out of this war.

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Dear Reader (Including all the new Remnant Bingo players),

The New York Times, August 12, 2021:

U.S. Asks Taliban to Spare Its Embassy in Coming Fight for Kabul

The demand seeks to stave off an evacuation of the embassy by dangling aid to future Afghan governments — even one that includes the Taliban.

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  1. Jim Singelis

    So is there honor among the Taliban?

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  2. Kurt Von Fuchs

    That was disjointed but completely understandable thanks Jonah. I can't help but think about the quote from Congressman Charlie Wilson that……These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the end game.

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  3. Chris

    Jonah: the Afghan’s have demonstrated that they don’t care about their country; why should we? 20 years for a “country” to get its act together and it’s our fault; No.

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  4. anonvet

    "crop rotation in the 14th century"

    I understood that reference....

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    Ben Connelly

    For all that some people think you’re an idealist, you’re the realist here and everyone else has lost their minds. We no longer understand the concept of honor and we no longer understand the international sphere and so when someone like you speaks the truth, Jonah, people would rather kill the messenger than hear it. National honor is national reputation and its a lot like the Sacred Honor that the Founders pledged to each other in the Declaration and it’s like the honor that Alexander Hamilton died for. Except that in the jungle of international relations where strength is the primary law, national honor is even more important. Everything about this G File is exactly spot on. Could hardly agree more.

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    The Stray Goose

    Certainly, the one elephant in the room that nobody seems to be talking about is Islam. The problems with Afghanistan are not about the Afghan people, the problems with Palestine, or Iraq, or Iran or Pakistan aren't their respective people, it's Islam. All along we should have been making arguments showing the flaws and failures of Islam's illiberal teachings, presenting the benefits of Classical Liberalism, and living it in our politics. We were not helped by Bush's tepid 'They hate us for our freedoms'. We didn't know what he meant by that and we were pretty sure HE didn't know what he meant by that. And we certainly weren't helped by Obama's seeming hostility towards Classical Liberalism. If he wasn't hostile to CL, he was heavily influenced by those in the Democratic Party who are. The person who best-articulated a strong defense of CL was Tony Blair, and he isn't even an American!

    Islam's brutal march continues. It's a conflict that's been going on for over 1,200 years. America's twenty-year efforts to turn that tide is a pittance compared to the overall conflict. While I believe in God, I'm not especially religious. But make no mistake - this is a crusade and if Classical Liberalism loses, you're gonna really hate it.

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  7. nkchim

    Jonah, I spent a year in Afghanistan as a senior advisor, and considering much of what has been written so far on this subject, this is the most succinct of the post mortems! I recently decided to leave the dispatch due to all the anti Trump rhetoric, but I have reconsidered my decision because of your coverage of this and other topics. I still don’t like the never-trump tint to some of the commentary, but I can skip it to read the good stuff.

    Too bad your comments on Afghanistan won’t matter or mitigate the slaughter that is coming, or has already begun!

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  8. Tim Johnson

    The fact that the government crumbled in months really does prove the point of both Trump and Biden: The nation was unsaveable as is. I used to feel it was analogous to South Korean and W. Germany, where we also maintain military bases, but neither of those countries would collapse without our presence - yet both have strategic value in warding off Russian and North Korean aggression, respectively. There's just no similar strategic interest in Afghanistan.

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    I Was a Crooked Lawyer

    May reread the article, but it didn’t work for me on first read. Theme: this is the wrong way to get out. Kept reading for the right way to leave and don’t believe it is presented. David French comes closer to making case for staying, but he is also not persuasive. Maybe Taliban misrule will cause a more viable indigenous opposition to form. Current regime unavoidably identified with white, Western neo-colonial forces. Same dynamics as in Vietnam. U.S. left holding the bag, receiving payback for centuries of European colonial exploitation and that has been easy for bad actors to exploit.

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  10. Michael E

    There is no way out that wouldn't have led to this. This was always going to happen. Withdrawal could have taken a year or two or three, but when we left, this is what would have happened. It's tragic, but the world is full of horrors. We can't stop them all.

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      The Stray Goose

      I think Thomas Joscelyn has argued persuasively that what you're saying isn't true. It was the anti-American left who were joined by the trumpist right that refused to look at the data (as presented by Mr. Joscelyn) and initiate the cut-and-run.

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