August 26 will go down in American History as the day the United States was humiliated by a terrorist organization in Afghanistan. ISIS-K, the Afghan offshoot of the group, detonated two suicide bombs, one at one of the gates into Kabul’s international airport and another at a hotel a short distance away.
Thirteen American servicemen were killed in this attack, but it took hours for our ‘Commander-in-Chief’ to respond. When he did, it was with platitudes and a hollow-sounding threat to hunt down the perpetrators. What was left unsaid by President * was the fact that the ‘perps’ were already dead.
Since then calls from both parties for accountability by our political and military leadership which allowed this to happen, have been made. But so far, only a lowly officer who posted a video decrying the failures of the military has been fired. Those responsible for the policies which allowed this terrorist bunch to carry out the attack have not taken any personal blame for what happened. After seven months in office, the default position of the administration is that Donald Trump has to be held accountable!
Finally, President * carried through on his promise to get tough with ISIS. A drone attack on a remote province in Afghanistan killed (according to the Pentagon) a top planner of terrorist attacks and another ISIS operative were killed, only two deaths with no civilian casualties. . According to my elementary math, they kill 13 of our soldiers, and wound dozens more, and we answer with the death of two people who were miles away from the action. Can we even be sure they were involved in planning this particular bombing?
Apparently, thousands of Americans and our Afghan allies are not going to be evacuated in time to meet Biden’s 31 August deadline. In the past Americans have been held hostage several times. These include the 1979 Iran hostage situation, the crew of the U. S. spy ship Pueblo in January 1968, and the soldier ‘ransomed’ by then President Barack Obama for five Taliban leaders incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. With all the bluster of the hostage takers, usually it took no military action to release them, but ill treatment of the victims was not uncommon.
One of the few times a successful action against those who violated our laws and people was during the Mayaguezaffair in May 1975. This merchant ship was taken on 12 May in disputed waters and its crew captured. Then President Gerald Ford, a decorated veteran of World War 2, ordered the port bombed where the ship was taken and Marines to retake the vessel from the Cambodians. This resulted in the death of 41 Americans, but the public felt it was a reassertion of U. S. sovereignty and widely supported.
Americans love when our President stands up to foreign terrorism against us. One of the first, and most famous, was the Perdicaris affair of 1904. Jon Perdicaris and his stepson were taken captive by a leader of some mountain tribes, Raisuli, on 18 May of 1904. Raisuli demanded a ransom of $70,000 to release the playboy/businessman. Then President Theodore Roosevelt, rightly seeing this action as redolent of the Barbary pirates of the early 19th century, demanded the immediate release of the two men. According to most sources, T. R. conveyed this message to Raisuli: “Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead” and made moves to order our naval forces to the area. Whether or not that persuaded their captors to let them go, Perdicaris and stepson were quickly freed. Again, the American public applauded their President’s actions.
Has Biden acted in accord with American interests in the Kabul fiasco? So far, it seems a puny answer to what has transpired. Not only was it his policies which facilitated the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, but the ISIS suicide bombers were allowed by said Taliban to get close to the perimeter of the airport where they blew themselves up.
To me, the numbers are very telling. ISIS, 13 killed, many wounded; Biden’s drone, two killed who was not even close to the action. In addition, it looks like the Taliban, who are now in control of the government of that war-torn nation, will have thousands of Americans and our allies as hostages. What will they demand of us for their safe release? How many will be killed before we extract those stranded in that godforsaken country?
Can Joe Biden salvage anything that will rebuild the respect, even fear, of the United States? We do not need to send any more troops into Afghanistan, but certainly there are places we can bomb and destroy as an answer to this savage act.
Biden seems comfortable with allowing the Taliban to dictate the terms of our withdrawal from Afghanistan. He is on record as favoring help for this terrorist gang to rebuild the country with economic help from the American taxpayer.
President Donald Trump had set 1 May for getting our military home. They had an agenda on how to do this, one negotiated with the Taliban. Joe Biden scrapped that for an extended time, with no guarantee from those who are our foes in the region. Does anyone really believe he can pull the proverbial rabbit from the hat and come out smelling like roses?
Republicans, Democrats and independents all agree that President * has caused the current crisis, called the worst foreign policy setback in decades for the U. S. I agree with them.
So what do we do? Wish for Biden’s resignation or his removal per the 25th Amendment. Nope. We are stuck with him, for that would bring an even more inept leader to the front, Vice President Kamala Harris. If only the 2022 election were tomorrow!