Monday Morning Quarterbacking

 IN RETROSPECT,  Biden should have maintained a military force of , oh, five to ten thousand armed military personnel in Afghanistan throughout the summer, adequate to deter Talibanic aggression, while simultaneously, quietly removing all embassy personnel, diplomatic and support, from the country, as well as any Afghani nationals wanting to leave the country as a precautionary measure, assuming that the dread Taliban would or might eventually take over and exact severe retribution upon the thousands of nationals who had helped the Americans during the war. Then, having evacuated everyone wanting to be evacuated, the American military should have been the "last man  out", shutting the door and turning off the lights of yet another failed American foreign war of imperialistic aggression. That would, however, have required knowing in advance the likelihood that the Taliban would indeed be able to defeat the Afghan military and government, an assumption impossible to make, but not impossible to guard against. After all, American intelligence had evidently predicted and informed Biden of such a likelihood. But that, used as a criticism of Biden, is quite a stretch. The difference between Biden's administration and supporters and Trump's administration and supporters is that the former possess integrity and accountability, the latter offer only lies and an invariable habit of deflecting blame and responsibility. Even now the Republicans are attempting to take political advantage of a situation with which neither they nor anyone else could possibly have done better. Trump, by announcing his intention of removing the American presence from Afghanistan and by setting a date for completing the removal (May 1, 20210, essentially provided the Taliban with a blueprint and timetable for retaking the country, and time to prepare to do so, including making an accurate assessment of the level of resolve, if any, of the Afghani government, military, and people to resist the inevitable coordinated Talibanic offensive to regain control of the country they once controlled. Obviously, their conclusion that there would be little or no resolve to oppose their takeover was, on hindsight, accurate. There was never any real necessity for the United states to announce to anyone publicly in advance that is was intending to completely withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal; and yet, Trump announced it, thus setting the stage for the impending disaster. He even provided a date, further contributing to the ultimate and inevitable success of the Taliban. That should be the central theme of analysis after the fact.