Why Biden Never Had To Leave Afghanistan

    On September 11, 2001, two planes hit the Twin Towers killing 2,977 people. It was an act of pure evil. That same day war was declared on terrorism. Shortly after a joint British American invasion swept across Afghanistan swiftly removing The Taliban from power. Now this evil group has fought their way back into power because the most powerful man on Earth let them. 

  The original goal of the Afghan invasion was to strip al Qaeda from control and dismantle the safe haven for terrorists that Afghanistan had become. That is not to say there were no other benefits. Under American control, law and order came to the land.  Before, its people lived under a tyrannical regime. Human rights were no concern. Women lived in fear of what could legally be done to them. Now the young generations lived in, not perfect, but certainly enjoyable conditions. Terrorism took a serious hit from this war. Al Qaeda and the Taliban were stripped from power, and unlike what was planned a democracy was established. 

Biden’s Blunder

   The date is April 14, 2021. President Joe Biden officially declares that he will pull out of Afghanistan beginning May 1 and concluding by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the War on Terrorism. May 1st comes. Unlike traditional withdrawals, he pulled out all his troops, abandoning a majority of his military bases and airports before evacuating anyone else. Normally the troops and airports would assist in the withdrawal as a skeleton force. Instead, he left the people and equipment to leave on their own. Due to this ridiculous plan, the following were abandoned:

•  Around 1,500 US citizens

• “A couple hundred” American journalists

•  An unknown amount of greencard holders

And that’s just the people. What about the equipment? 

• 22,174 Humvees

• 634 M1117s

• 155 MaxxPro mine proof vehicles

• 169 M1113 armored personnel carriers

• 42,000 Pick-ups and SUVs

• 64,363 machine guns

• 8,000 military trucks

• 162,043 radios

• 16,035 night vision goggles

• 358,530 assault rifles

• 126,295 pistols

• 176 artillery pieces 

• 33 Mi-17s (helicopter)

• 33 UH-60 Blackhawks (helicopter)

• 43 MD530s (helicopter)

• 4 C-130 transports (large plane)

• 23 Embrazer EMB 314 Super Tucano (plane)

• 10 Cessna AC-208 strike aircraft

• Classified American Documents

• U.S. Embassy itself

That isn’t all. The Taliban now have body armor, modern medical supplies, and American technology. This adds up to around 85 billion dollars in lost equipment. 

  The problem isn’t just what we lost. It’s what they gained. They now have the equipment that gave us the upper hand in combat. For example, before night vision tech was a serious advantage to us, now they have 16,035 devices of their own. Losing this much was completely unnecessary and could have been easily avoided with more planning.

  The past four presidents have wanted to pull out of Afghanistan but never did. Why? 

  To many, The Afghanistan Occupation seemed like a bloody, expensive, never-ending war. This simply isn’t true. There hasn’t been a single combat death in Afghanistan (before the withdrawal) since  February 2020 and the war’s budget was extremely small. America should always strive to keep itself out of foreign issues it doesn’t have to be a part of. But there is a simple moral issue in pulling out of a war leaving thousands of people and equipment for no logical reason. The founding fathers were right in saying America was never made to act as an empire. Pulling out of Afghanistan should have always been a goal. But the way it was done was simply criminal.

  We had a strategic reason to invade Afghanistan. As an added benefit a democracy was built. People's lives were saved. How we eventually withdrew completely (I say completely because really we had already almost completely withdrawn considering how slight our presence was) is a matter for another day. But there was no reason pressing enough to leave Afghanistan in the bloody and rushed way we did. 

Byproducts Of The Withdraw

  By leaving Afghanistan we are allowing the recreation of a terrorist hotbed. Abandoning our own people and equipment. Ignoring our moral obligation. Incentivizing China to take Taiwan and Afghanistan, and giving our allies no reason to trust us. We abandoned Vietnam, Hong Kong, and now Afghanistan. Why be an ally? 

Conclusion

  Considering these major drawbacks, why was there such an urgency to bring home only 2500 troops? The answer. Joe Biden wanted to be the one to finally end the war. Joe Biden wanted a win. Every president before him wanted the win too but ole’ Joe was the only one stupid enough to go through with it.