Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, bravely fled his country saying "patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed."
The fate of Kabul and the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) was sealed on that day —Aug.15, 2021.
Ghani cut and ran with untold amounts of cash.
The "patriots" Ghani spoke of are countless just the same because they are still being hunted down and executed by the Taliban with our weapons.
A month prior, after giving away Bagram Air Base, our most logical evacuation platform, administration officials expressed high confidence that President Ghani and the ANA would hold the country together.
President Biden dismissed predictions of a Taliban takeover as "not inevitable," while attempting to assure the press that the Afghan Army was "better trained, better equipped and . . . more competent in terms of conducting war."
The summer of 2021, it was just more of the same utter nonsense we had come to expect from the Washington D.C. swamp.
Unintelligible policy statements over the two decades of this war.
A conflict which has lost all purpose.
We the People had no idea that Afghanistan was just the opening act in gross negligence theater of the absurd; an interminable, tragic performance continuing to this day.
When conditions on the ground change, so too, must your strategy.
That truism is not embraced by this administration at all.
Despite evidence that the Taliban were reneging on their commitments if the U.S. was to depart the war, we made the departure date of Aug. 31 set in stone.
In late July, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley confirmed the Taliban had seized control of half of the country.
With Bagram gone, it was no longer a question as to whether our Kabul-centered departure would end up a disaster; it was how big a disaster would it be?
At home millions of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans and the Gold Star families of those who didn’t return watched in horror as their life’s work go up in smoke.
As the remains of desperate Afghans were pried from the landing gear wells of the evacuation C-17s, one of America’s greatest military defeats was coming into focus.
The details colored in just how bad our leaders had failed us. They failed our allies and partners. They failed our Afghan friends.
As we all mourned the avoidable loss of 13 fallen Americans at the hands of a suicide bomber that Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews had in his sights but was forbidden from pulling the trigger, the administration lauded itself for a job well done.
The sergeant who paid with the loss of his leg and arm, would disagree.
No one held to account except one.
Marine Lt. Col. Stu Scheller drew government wrath for speaking up with the sober truth that military and civilian leaders had failed us all.
Career terminated.
Our defeat still haunts us to this day. It’s beyond painfully excruciating.
It evokes the Bay of Pigs (1961) and the Fall of Saigon (1975).
We have thousands of our Afghan friends still trapped.
The still empaneled National Security Team’s demonstrated weakness has encouraged deterrable wars and crises all over the world.
The wide-open borders and loss of our air sovereignty as seen from Chinese balloons leaves us vulnerable to attack here on our own soil.
We have had to adjust to "World War III" and "nuclear war" as common, everyday speak.
This team that has no shame ever-so-hysterically maintains that climate change is still our number one threat.
What about these realities below?
- Our economy at the abyss
- Skyrocketing violence
- Irresponsible national debt and spending
- Government identifying American values and patriotism as extremist threats
This means, and right fully so, few are taking up the fight on carbon as a "Top 100" issue.
If We the People want to right the ship and bring this crop of incompetent Neocon elites to heel, we can't let Afghanistan go.
Our failure to hold the administration to account for weakening and endangering us must be reconciled.
There must be genuine justice.
To date, the Republican Congress has provided nothing more than theater-style oversight hearings filled with prickly embarrassing questions.
If fighting-age men and fentanyl flooding the country; if Communist Chinese bioweapon labs in California; if billions of unaudited dollars and weapons in short supply continue to Ukraine, then We the People will need to melt congressional switchboards to voice round-the-clock displeasure.
Veterans appreciate the kind words: "Thank you for your service."
Please join us and engage in your own service to our nation by telling our elected officials we want our liberty protected and we demand accountability right now.
If we do face a new world war, is this the leadership team we want?
Do we want academics, stationary deep thinkers, and other "gurus"?
Or, do we want real men fighting men and women?
You know?
Those who have the verifiable mettle to tackle those parts of the globe who harbor only the worst for us.
(A related article may be found here.)
Lt. Col. Darin Gaub (retired), US Army, is co-founder and national spokesperson of Restore Liberty. He is also a proud fourth generation Montanan. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1991 and was assigned to the United States Army's Presidential Honor Guard in Fort Myer, Virginia.
Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt (retired) is a co-founder of Restore Liberty, a former deputy representative to NATO, a lifetime member on the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Newsmax contributor. The views presented are those of the author and do not represent the views of the U.S. government, U.S.Department of Defense, or its components. Read Gen. Holt's reports — More Here.
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