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Biden Turns Afghanistan Into a Nightmarish Echo of U.S. Exit from South Vietnam

Posted on Thursday, July 15, 2021
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AMAC Exclusive by Daniel Roman

Afghanistan

American forces are today engaged in a historic rout from Afghanistan. Over the last few weeks, the Taliban have gone from controlling a third of the country to nearly three quarters. Even a Taliban fighter told NBC News that he was shocked at the speed of their advance, and that they were deliberately slowing it to avoid running afoul of the United States. Under Biden, the Taliban can afford to wait. They know that their takeover is merely a matter of logistics. The US will do nothing to stop them, and their only danger is that they advance faster than the US can retreat. And that retreat is fast.

The United States pulled out of Bagram Airbase, the largest in the country and located on the outskirts of Kabul, in the middle of the night, without telling their Afghan allies who awoke to find the Americans gone after 20 years. They could be forgiven for imagining that Joe Biden wished to treat America’s war in Afghanistan as if it had been nothing more than a 20 year long bad dream. But for everyone else, Afghan and American, it promises to be replaced by a nightmare instead.

Geopolitics is driven by balances of power. In conflicts where being on the losing side can be fatal, those who believe their cause is lost have little reason to try and reverse the course of events. Rather, their incentives are to get a leg up on escaping, or to switch sides. As a consequence, the actual military support offered by the United States to Afghan forces against the Taliban was always far less important than the potential that if the Taliban ever looked like they would take over the country, the US would comeback ruthlessly.

It was that belief which kept Afghan soldiers in the field. It was also that belief which brought the Taliban to the negotiating table with Donald Trump. They may have known that he genuinely wished to disengage the United States from Afghanistan, much as he had Syria and Iraq, but they also knew that there were limits beyond which Donald Trump would not be pushed. Qassim Soleimani learned that lesson the hard-way, and the Taliban as a consequence understood that if they broke their word, they would face the vengeance of Donald Trump and the United States.

Joe Biden carries no such weight. No actions have been undertaken to punish Taliban violations of cease-fire agreements. No air strikes have been launched in support of the Afghan army. The United States gives every indication it will be done with Afghanistan when it withdraws and the message to the Taliban is that all the US wants is for them to coordinate their advance such that the US forces can leave first. When questioned about Afghanistan, Biden replied on July 2nd that “I want to talk about happy things man.”

The result has not just been the Taliban advance, but the collapse of the Afghan Army and state. The Afghans quite rightfully fear that the Biden Administration has cut a deal with the Taliban that leaves them out of the equation—and that once the US forces are gone, the US will do nothing to help them. As a consequence, they are either switching sides, as the Uzbek General Dostum has just done, or running, with whole Afghan units dissolving.

This process should bring back memories of another debacle, also triggered by the determination of Democratic politicians to extricate themselves from a war which the Democratic party had supported. That is the Communist takeover of Vietnam in 1975.

Few American veterans or AMAC members can forget the images from Saigon on April 29th, 1975. As tens of thousands of desperate Vietnamese, including spouses of Americans and those who had risked their lives fighting Communism were held back by armed Marines at the gates of the US Embassy, helicopters carried off the American staff. The sacrifices of nearly 70,000 dead American servicemen, and more than a decade of fighting had been rendered meaningless in a matter of weeks by the advance of the North Vietnamese army. Now the US is making plans for evacuating its Kabul Embassy.

No less a figure than Karl Marx, the patron saint of the left, remarked that history repeats, first as tragedy, then as farce. What happened in Vietnam was a tragedy – for America, for the Vietnamese people, two million of whom found themselves in reeducation camps, and ironically for the Viet Cong themselves, whose National Liberation Front government lasted for exactly 90 minutes before North Vietnamese troops machine gunned fighters trying to raise the Viet Cong flag over government buildings. They would find, much like their anti-war allies in the West, that they were little more than useful idiots whose utility had passed.

The tragedy in Vietnam in 1975 was fully avoidable. What the Johnson Administration had failed to achieve with 500,000 troops, the Nixon Administration had achieved with less than 50,000, forcing the North Vietnamese into accepting a ceasefire in the Paris Accords of 1973. The agreement was far from perfect, but so was the cease-fire that ended the Korean war in 1953. Then too, North Korea remained armed and did forgo its claim to conquer its southern neighbor. South Korea in 1953, like South Vietnam in 1973 and Afghanistan today, was an imperfect government wracked by corruption and infighting. But, the agreement bought time—and in time, freedom and American involvement led to economic prosperity, liberalization, and democracy. South Korea became one of the world’s most prosperous states. In 1975, South Vietnam already had five times the average income of the North. Unfortunately, it did not get the time.

It did not get the time because the 1973 Paris Accords, like the 1953 cease-fire in Korea, had to be enforced by the clear determination of the United States to return if they were violated. North Korea knew if it attacked South Korea that the US would return and that there was no point. Yet in 1975, Congress, dominated by Democrats like John Kerry, not only cut off aid to South Vietnam, but passed legislation prohibiting the US from intervening if it was attacked. This was not only an invitation for the North Vietnamese to attack, but it told the South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians they could expect no rescue and that there was no point in fighting.

Biden has followed a similar path in Afghanistan. His error is not a desire to withdraw. That is a desire he shared with former President Trump. It is rather that in order to withdraw, he needed an agreement, and in order for an agreement to work, he needed it to be of some value to the Taliban. If the US was going to withdraw anyway, then what need had the Taliban for an agreement? If the US was not going to attack them no matter what, why should they keep their word? Biden, by telegraphing his indifference, has destroyed whatever leverage not only the United States had, but also our own Afghan allies.

It’s a tragedy, and a completely unnecessary one.

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Bill on the Hill
Bill on the Hill
3 years ago

Interesting comparisons here by Daniel Roman, i.e. the Korean War & still technically ongoing, i.e. cease fire in 1953, the year of my birth & the Vietnam War, a war I thought I would be drafted into, however my Draft # was too high apparently…
Afghanistan, had Trump not had the presidency stolen out from underneath him, come May 1, 2021 our troop withdrawal would have been an orderly withdrawal & we would have taken many million dollars worth of equipment with us rather than left behind by a cowardly middle of the night retreat by the Biden administration…This indeed has the smell of people like John Kerry written all over it.
After over ( 20 ) years in a yet again pointless conflict, America has left Afghanistan with their tail between their legs again, the Democrat way, the Johnson way, the Kerry way & lastly, the Bumbling Biden way…
MAGA,
Bill on the Hill… ;~)

Edward Mashmann
Edward Mashmann
3 years ago

How long before South Korea and Taiwan suffer the wrath of Bumbling Joe Biden?

Like he has said .”Lets talk about Happy things”.

How many days till the 2022 and 2024 elections

Tim Thompson
Tim Thompson
3 years ago

We wasted our men by as usual not winning the war, we have shown once again an unwillingness to back up our fighting forces letting politics make America look confused and indecisive. Vietnam was the first lesson that the Democrats let the far left dictate what should have been a decisive win after the TET offensive North Vietnam’s push to take over South Vietnam. We won that battle and the media back home fed the American people lies telling them we had lost and making the TET offensive look to be a lost cause when in fact had we toughed out for another year that offensive we would have won without question that nightmare war. Thank Democrats for always making the wrong decisions regarding war. The are easily influenced by lies and in many cases are cause of those lies.

CoNMTX
CoNMTX
3 years ago

So what did anyone expect from Loopy Joe? Intelligent leadership? Biden/Intelligent = oxymoron. Biden/Leadership = oxymoron. Biden/Biden = moron. The demo/globlists have a deadline, 2030, to get America ruined and into the one-world government so they have to get with it.

RJ from Az
RJ from Az
3 years ago

US troops can no longer be used as cannon fodder for politicians. Three wars and we leave with thousands dead and nothing to show for it. When will we learn that US forces sent to war will either go in to WIN or stay out of the conflict. Who is going to trust us? It’s tragic and disgusting what has happened. From a VN vet.

John Karkalis
John Karkalis
3 years ago

Skulking away from Bagram in the middle of the night in 2021?
The last helicopter leaving the roof of the American embassy in Saigon ( now Ho Chi Minh city) in 1975?.
History may or may not always repeat itself, but it tries d*mn hard to do so.
I had been home from Vietnam 6 years before our embassy was abandoned in Saigon.
I wondered then what would happen to the Vietnamese who worked with us as interpreters and allies during the war. The answer for those fortunate enough not to be shot on the spot was “reeducation camps”.
Does anyone seriously think the Taliban will welcome their brethren on the other side with open arms?
How many have died, how many will die because of our betrayal?
While our State department and military dawdle over rescuing those who worked with us, the Taliban are surely planning mass executions of men, women, and children.
Wonder how my fellow Vietnam vets feel about this disgrace?

Carol
Carol
3 years ago

Incompetence and immaturity at the highest levels! Why does this surprise anyone? Not only is Biden screwing America up but leaving allies to the wolves in their own countries to be devoured! Way to go Joe!

toots
toots
3 years ago

Vietnam was another democrat disaster – Lynden baine Johnson. Even Jo and Ho are 100 times worse than Johnson. Jo is destroying everything good and importing everything bad as long as it makes him money.

Jimmy Donohue
Jimmy Donohue
3 years ago

I never thought to see the like again John, disgraceful is exactly how it looks, Politicians should keep their pointy noses out of the military operations and they definitely need to keep their “woke” appointees away!

PaulE
PaulE
3 years ago

Hey China is very, very happy as they will get the Baghram air base for nothing, so they can fly out all those rare earth’s and other minerals they are already mining in the country with approval from the soon to be gone Afghan government and the Taliban.

China’s ROE, for protecting their assets, are far different from our American soldiers had to endure at great cost in American lives. Basically the Chinese ROE boils down to if you threaten any Chinese asset, in any way, they kill you. No concern for civilian casualties or waiting to be fired upon. Just eliminate the threat. Same as they do everywhere else. The Taliban already appear to give the Chinese run operations a wide bearth.

China also gets a permanent staging area in the region from which to project their military ans growing economic power elsewhere in the region. So President Xi is laughing his a$$ off as Senile Joe does what Senile Joe does best.

Judy
Judy
3 years ago

How IS IT we have so many STUPID people in our country? And I mean those who are proudly holding up Satan’s flag of support for what the O’Biden administration is doing??? I think they’ve all tucked their pointed ears and tails out of sight. It’s like watching a futuristic movie of the world takeover by a beast whose mouth is its weapon against its victims. ????????

Judy
Judy
3 years ago

AMAC, PLEASE FIX YOUR ‘EDIT’ FEATURE. SOME COMMENTS HAVE QUESTION MARKS PROCEEDING THEM, NOT TO MENTION, BEING ABLE TO. ‘EDIT!’
THANK YOU!

phoenix
phoenix
3 years ago

We gave them 20 years a trillion and a governemnt and some idea of how to run their affairs,

The USA has done more for them then they have done for themselves in a lifetime.

We did not take them on to raise, Its time to grow up and govern themselves

That they aren’t capable or unwilling is not our problem.

Biden is as stupid as it gets , but this is not his fault

David B.
David B.
3 years ago

This is just another deadly error by the evil Clown-Biden cabal circus! These morons have now invited the evil globalist U.N. into the U.S. to JUDGE us for alleged racism!?! I wish for everyone who voted for these idiots nothing but the Worst for their own stupidity!

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
3 years ago

Read where US sneaked off Baghram air base & didnt inform host Afghans then read where 22 soldiers were executed by Taliban.
( surrender due to No ammo)

Old Silk
Old Silk
3 years ago

He has always been a failure in anything that he touched, but especially foreign policy.

CPOBill
CPOBill
3 years ago

hunter sold the Afghans to the taliban!

Wayne Peterkin
Wayne Peterkin
3 years ago

Afghanistan was home to Al Qaeda and a haven to terrorists and terrorist training. After 9/11 there was little argument that we needed to try to clean out that rat’s nest. There can be an argument today if we should have stayed as long as we have and over the cost in American lives and treasure, but there is no question that leaving the way we are will cause a bloodbath. It already started. The Taliban will be back in complete control in less than 6 months and every single person who collaborated with us, from government officials on down, will have to flee the country into exile or die. Women will once again become uneducated slaves to the barbarians. And the blood of those victims will be on our hands for walking away, especially Biden’s hands. Trump wanted to leave but delayed doing so because he knew what the outcome would be. Biden didn’t care and pulled the plug.I have heard some saying that the Afghans must take responsibility and defend themselves. While that sounds good in theory, reality is that they are outnumbered and fear the barbarians at the door. Were we as citizens in their place without the power of our military defending us we might not do any better.

Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
3 years ago

Get out and stay out.

Hal
Hal
3 years ago

Hidin’ Joe Biden continues to widen his sidin’ with USA protagonists. His election as POTUS is turning in to a National fisco.

Ruth Sidow
Ruth Sidow
3 years ago

The American “leader” is just a numbskull, he has left the Afghani people to the mercy of the Taliban and we know they have no mercy! This is the worse move in foreign policy ever. Don’t be surprised when the Taliban starts, once again, wrecking havoc here in America. Biden has opened our borders and now leaves the Taliban with no restraints. This is not how a president takes care of his country, this is the way he would destroy it. May God have mercy on us.

Heinz G Park
Heinz G Park
3 years ago

Biden says American is Back Again I just wonder where? The President election should be at least for eight years and maybe a President that has Balls could have enough time to show what the USA stands for FREDOM, LIBERTY, PATRITOTISM and JUSTICE FOR ALL.
To have all this we need to return to the DRAFT all Americans SHOULD know what it means to SERVE,
GOT BLESS THE USA.

Hen3ry
Hen3ry
3 years ago

Why limit Biden to turning Afghanistan a nightmare
This one man puppet wrecking ball
Is turning EVERYTHING I mean EVERYTHING into a nightmare.

Hen3ry
Hen3ry
3 years ago

Ted the Liar of the Senate Kennedy
Did the same thing to South Vietnam

Tish
Tish
3 years ago

Just proves how sneaky and dishonest bumbles is.

Robert W
Robert W
3 years ago

Exactly, a “carbon copy”!! Vietnam Vet

John D. Beach
John D. Beach
3 years ago

Those who don’t learn from the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. What could, possibly, be more descriptive of the Democrat Party?

JohnH
JohnH
3 years ago

From what I remember twenty years ago, a lot of people warned not to go here and to look at history. Now the time has come.

JohnH
JohnH
3 years ago

Trump said he would get out, so at least Biden says we are getting out. This has to end after twent years of what……

Roy Law
Roy Law
3 years ago

The Demorats never have drawn any lines in the sand, when they can just give up our hard earned victories to the enemies of our country. I am a Vietnam Veteran, and we never lost a battle, but lost the war. Seem strange to anyone but me?

JETMECH
JETMECH
3 years ago

We should have learned from the Russian debacle that the taliban is a barbaric society willing to kill anyone that doesn’t submit to there beliefs. we should have bombed the hell out em and let them know we mean business without boots on the ground. Biden doesn’t care how many of our troops were killed or how many are committing suicide everyday.

JOHN
JOHN
3 years ago

Here we are with an incompetent leadership with President Puss for Brains repeating Democrat failure after failure!
We were winning in Vietnam but liberal media pressure made us cave.
The US abandoned our efforts in Vietnam at the cost of so many American lives! Which created a GIANT sucking VOID for The Communists and they POURED in.
I am a Vietnam Veteran …. I WAS there… sometimes I still am….
Democrats are the Party of Slavery and CONTROL!

Gary Swanzy
Gary Swanzy
3 years ago

You folks leave something out about Nixon and 50,000 troops. Nixon was not afraid to turn the B-52’s loose.

D.P.
D.P.
3 years ago

Perhaps theTaliban reads history. They saw how badly Vietnam went, and what the eventual outcome was……the tyrants won. This because we went into a war with no intention of finishing or winning in any shape….it was politics and power, not true pursuit of democracy. We failed there, we failed in Iraq, we failed in Afganistan, even before we began. All they had to do was wait. Like Nam, the public and the political powers lost their focus, aim, and desire…..and we as a nation lost a conflict that should have been short lived, and successful. As a Vietnam vet, I saw first hand how the military was used and abused. How politics managed the battle field. How the “enemy” became us, to the joy of the enemy of democracy and human rights.
We are such poor students of our own ignorant ways. Meanwhile, China, Iran, and Russia wait in the wings, with drooling mouths. Every battle fought in Nam was won militarily, and then nullified by the political powers. Every battle fought in Irag was won militarily, and nullified by the political powers. The battles fought in Afganistan will prove the same when we finally count the cost. Now we are a laughing stock in the world, our enemies (the real ones) domestic and foreign are emboldened, our military is losing support, and our debt is over the top. We have been primed, the fuse is lit……

Brenda Blunt
Brenda Blunt
3 years ago

Hasn’t the leaders read their history? They need to do things the right and best way!!!

Pete from St Pete
Pete from St Pete
3 years ago

When will our leaders learn that you should rarely announce military withdrawal plan in advance? They just serve to inspire your enemy more than your friends.

Dave Smith
Dave Smith
3 years ago

Why would this surprise any American? The last democrat with something resembling a spine was JFK. But their actions mirror the party who has gone from “Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” to “Whaaaaa! I want free stuff!” Cowards hiding behind the Constitution that Americans serve and defend.

exposed
exposed
3 years ago

Biden could care less about the women and children in Afghanistan!!!

Sovereign
Sovereign
3 years ago

The article is correct, but: We have allowed politicians to lull us into these idiotic and destructive wars for far too long. As in Korea, Vietnam and so many other places, the point was never to actually “win” the war, it was to have a war. With all of the enormous theft of taxpayer dollars, growth in the military industrial complex and the loss of our freedoms that entails.

Ken in Arizona
Ken in Arizona
3 years ago

The U.S. never has any clear cut goals with these military actions. It’s basically just day to day war until tired.

Robert Zuccaro
Robert Zuccaro
3 years ago

My objection: I’m not for perpetual wars but we spent 20 years telling women there to take off their birkas, go to school, get out from under mens rule and be individuals… what do you think the Taliban will do to them? Go ahead and pull out but when the murders begin, make sure you OWN IT Joe!

Lanny Camden
Lanny Camden
3 years ago

I spent 16 months in Vietnam from 1970 to late 1971. I still remember some of the Vietnamese people telling me they wanted to be like America. They hated Communism and hoped a peace treaty would result in a South Korea type Vietnam. My heart broke as I watched the retreat of America 1975 knowing the waste and the fear of the people pleading at the gate embassy. They trusted us. When Richard Nixon introduced Rolling Thunder across the dmz the North communists returned to the negotiating table from their stubborn refusals to talk.Water gate was a political monkey wrench that emboldened the communists to hold out and it worked.Bush warned Obama not to pull out of Iraq and After he did the innocent was sweep away by wicked men with an estimated 500,000 innocent butchard. Trump ended that in less than 6 months ago and kept a backup there.After all we still have camps in Germany and Japan and PhilippinesNever trust democrat policies. Bible says. When rightous lead. The people prosper. When the wicked lead. The people suffer. Inflation and false promises are here once again. How will we and our allies fel the pain of stupid decisions?

J. Callaway
J. Callaway
3 years ago

Just like Vietnam, we should not be in the middle east. The only reason we were ever there was for the oil. Those people have been fighting each other for thousands of years. Why should our military people fight and die for countries who won’t fight for themselves and don’t like or support us.

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