What’s most astonishing about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is how astonished everyone professes to be, while conceding delaying the inevitable would not have prevented it.
Failure is often an orphan; this one lays claim to plenty of fathers.
Bill Clinton regrets not assassinating Osama Bin Laden after the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. George W. Bush overreached by endorsing mission creep after ousting the Taliban following 9/11. Barack Obama stood by as Pakistan harbored Taliban terrorists. Donald Trump recognized the Afghan civilian government’s impotence when he opened talks with the Taliban, but typically never got beyond bombast.
President Biden takes advantage of Trump policies when they suit him. No one should be surprised that he built on Trump’s Afghanistan initiative. His timing is timely. He’s still in his first year, so the outrage should have long faded if he runs for reelection in 2024. And wagging the dog now gives House Democrats cover as they fight among themselves over physical and human infrastructure while battling to gerrymander congressional districts in purple states.
Meanwhile, Biden continues to position himself to advance his agenda. If, as many predict, the GOP takes the majority in one or both houses of Congress following next year’s midterms, Biden won’t allow himself to be sidelined as Obama was. Like Clinton, Biden can thrive as a minority president. As such, he would be situated to deracinate the bitter seeds of division sown by Obama and reaped by Trump. It’s worth hoping he succeeds.
Peter Busowski
Jeannette