Op-Ed: Lessons in failure

Recent events in Afghanistan have been heartbreaking. The return of a bloodstained Taliban government backed by the Chinese Communist Party was bad enough. The rank incompetence shown by President Biden’s administration in orchestrating the withdrawal of American citizens, foreign and Afghani allies was worse.

I am just old enough to remember scenes broadcast from Saigon 46 years ago; scenes of crowds desperate to get out as a remorseless gauntlet closed. These horrors are once again happening on a national scale in Afghanistan.

Our President and his officials have openly proclaimed that they trust the Taliban to allow U.S. citizens to travel through their lines to get to Kharrazi Airport. Our leaders’ trust of the Taliban to be humane is ludicrous beyond my ability to describe. The manner of Biden’s withdrawal apparently left us no other option. This is reminiscent of the outrageous excuses offered when, for thirteen hours, no American forces came to the rescue of those trapped in the Benghazi Consulate on Sept. 11, 2012.

For reasons that make sense to him, President Biden determined that our forces must finally withdraw from Afghanistan, ceding it to the Taliban, a group whose government twenty years ago was vicious beyond belief. He determined that it would be best for China to dominate Afghanistan as it dominates so many others in that region. While I vehemently disagree with him, our Constitution mandates that the President guides Foreign and Defense Policy.

Biden’s absolute failure to withdraw in a controlled and prudent manner is inexcusable. This failure is not merely the fortunes of war. It is not the result of the unpredictable actions of a formidable enemy. This failure to evacuate our own citizens, our foreign allies, and the thousands of Afghanis who placed themselves in harm’s way for our sake is the result of a disengaged President following the blithe advice of advisors who are consumed by hubris.

It has happened before, for example at Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, and in Reagan’s Beirut, Lebanon occupation in 1983. Such failures are not partisan. The causes of Biden’s failure must be corrected, as they were by both JFK and Reagan. Otherwise, the relative stability of the post-WW II world order will fail. If Biden’s Administration does not adapt then predators like the Chinese Communist Party, Putin’s Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran will see irresistible opportunity in our weakness. Their assessment of our incompetence could lead to miscalculation and war on a scale we have not seen since 1945.

• • •

In Maine and then Idaho, Ralph K. Ginorio has taught the history of Western Civilization to High School students for nearly a quarter century. He is an “out-of-the-closet” Conservative educator with experience in Special Education, Public Schools, and Charter Schools, Grades 6-12. He has lived in Coeur d’Alene since 2014. Email: rginorio@cdapress.com