Afghanistan - what were the options?

I am having a hard time wrapping my head around this Afghanistan mess. The images of people clinging to planes and stories about Taliban going "door to door" are horrifying. But can we put politics aside and honestly talk about what was done right/wrong in the past 20 years?

My feeling is that the current result was inevitable, a matter of when not if. So if the US pulled out a year from now, 5 years, 10 years, the result would inevitably be the same. I think us being there from the start was a mistake - we should have gone in, taken out the folks we knew were responsible for attacking us, and gotten out. Staying 20 years probably made the problem worse in the long run.

Yeah, the result is disheartening. To me Biden's biggest blunder here is not with the withdrawal but with not being honest with himself or the rest of the country the reality of the result. He is an idiot for not knowing this would be the result and preparing for this result.

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Northwest · M

Options prior to November 2001:

1. Find Bin Laden and take him out in a specific operation.

2. Invade Afghanistan.

We opted for #2, and then when that failed, invaded Iraq for kicks, and eventually went retroactively for #1.

Once we engaged in #2, it was really #2, and from that point on, the spectacle in Kabul was inevitable, no matter what play book was used or who sits in the White House.

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@Northwest You only other thing I would point out is in 2001 we didn't need to find Bin Laden. The Taliban offered to hand him over to a third country for trial like the criminal he was. They thought incorrectly Bush would follow diplomatic norms and agree. They apparently didn't get the memo that in the US being a war criminal boosts your election profile so he invaded instead.