When the order of the retreat of U.S troops was issued by Joe Biden starting in May and ending on Sept. 11, many Americans felt that it was a smart move to make. But now, they are outraged by Biden’s actions as well as the actions of his Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.
What had happened to make the Americans rethink their support of the U.S president?
After a roughly 7 hour hearing featuring Secretary of State Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley, many facts and lies have been discovered, as well as what really happened during the months of the U.S retreat from Afghanistan. As more info is passed down to the public, more blame is being placed on the secretary of state Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley. The Senate held a hearing with them on Sept.28.
As we all know, the war of the U.S in Afghanistan is against the infamous terrorist group: the Taliban, which is notorious for their cruelty towards their own people as shown by the executions of hopeless men, as well as the attack of 7/11.
On Aug. 31, right before the rapid collapse of the Afghanistan government, President Joe Biden pressured Afghanistan President Ghani to lie to the world about the conditions in Afghanistan. Shortly after, a movement that no one could have predicted, the Afghanistan government collapsed with the president fleeing the country. A few days later, the only place that has not fallen to the Taliban’s was Kabul’s international airport. For the next few days, the U.S tried their best to evacuate as many Americans as they could as well as many Afiganistans who helped the Americans in the war. The last flight left at (needs to look) with people desperately trying to climb onto the plane. They were willing to fall to their deaths rather than facing the wrath of the Taliban. And just like that, the costly 20-year war with Afghanistan has been officially lost.
“If we stay behind, they will kill us, they will kill us all,” said a desperate Afgan unable to get on the last plane.
At the time, because of the lies said by Ghani, Americans back home had no clue just how big of a failure the entire operation was. But, as days go on, many facts have come to light on what actually happened during the war with Afghanistan. The most shocking thing that angered the people is that Americans have been left behind enemy lines, unable to get home and facing the threat of the Taliban alone.
During the hearing, they are questioned about their choices during the war with the Taliban, such astheir ability to assess the situation as well as their ability to execute a plan.
“You have left past tense-Americans behind,” said Senator Josh Hawley.
Meanwhile, Mark Milley has also made some questionable mistakes. Milley was openly bashed during the hearing for reading books and doing interviews instead of focusing on the threat of the Taliban. To make things even worse, Mark Milley made two phone calls to the Chinese Communist Party General Li Zuocheng, which made China more aggressive to the U.S as, at the moment, they did not believe the president was even considering launching a nuclear attack on Beijing. This is bad for the U.S because by making china angry, they are going to fear economic
Subsequently, the US is now at a disadvantage in future wars, all because of Milley’s blunder.
The president made some bad choices, but his military advisors do share some, if not most, of the blame. First, I find that the retreat of US troops from Afghanistan does not make any sense. They had better equipment, more military experience and combat training, which most of the Taliban do not have. With all the advantages that they had, they still lost the 20-year war. President Biden called it a huge success, but it is far from the truth. The president should have called for more reinforcements to arrive and overwhelm the Taliban to put an end to the war once for all.
To lose against one of the most underdeveloped and ill-prepared enemies with all the advantages they had is simply shameful and embarrassing. Not to mention the huge waves of impact it has around the world. Allies of the U.S think that President Biden, the face of our country, is weak and indecisive; while terrorist groups and other invasive countries are celebrating, saying that even they can beat one of the most powerful countries in the world. To add more disaster into the mix, the U.S’s long-standing rival China, with almost equal or possibly stronger power than the U.S, will seek this as an opportunity to gain the upper hand.
While the president had made some decisions that shocked the outside world, Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley have made choices that have greatly impacted the U.S.
During the Senate hearing, the responses made it clear that none of them were taking responsibility for what happened. Every time a senator asks a simple direct question such as “do you think your ability as a military advisor is not sufficient enough to give good advice to the president?” They would mumble and say a whole bunch of irrelevant stuff to avoid the question.
Regarding the fact that Mark Milley was too busy trying to make himself popular by reading books and giving interviews, the obvious move here would be to plan out the strategies that you would advise the president on. The entire rapid collapse of the Afghanistan government could have been prevented if only he had not been selfishly focusing on unrelated reasons.
As for Secretary Austin, there is not any way to fix what he has caused on the job. He has fully admitted during the hearing, and I quote, “No, we do not have the ability to access if the soldiers have the will to fight or not”
In other words, Austin claims that he is unable to understand the thinking of soldiers, ethically speaking, after wars. Thus, the only way to make it better is to either have him resign or otherwise fire him and replace him with a person that is competent at the job.
The choices made by President Joe Biden, Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley have not only caused the collapse of the Afghanistan government but also the global view of American power. What is done is done, and we can only hope for a better change as time goes on.
