#47 Deja Vu- Saigon to Kabul

Come This Far with Chris Taylor

As Kabul falls today it’s important to take a sober and objective look at what went wrong. To immediately seek perspective to deter and hinder the effectiveness of the political spin and posturing from both sides full of cartoonish politicians that seem to have all the influence over the public these days. Here is the hard truth: The Bush administration faltered when they decided to pivot entirely to Iraq during the early days of operations in Afghanistan. They failed when they set the precedent of never planning forward past a 1-year strategy. That blunder would then be repeated every year for 20 years. We didn’t fight a 20-year war. We essentially fought a 1- year war 20 times in a row. The Obama administration including General McChrystal failed when they caved to Hamid Karzai’s pressure to impose crippling rules of engagement in 2009 that tied both hands behind the backs of our forces and allowed the Taliban to strengthen just as we had our boots on their necks at the brink of their destruction. The Trump Administration failed the second they began negotiating with the Taliban while excluding the Democratically elected government of Afghanistan from the talks. Effectively delegitimizing their lawful claim to power and significantly reducing their standing with their own citizens and the world. The Biden Administration failed when they abruptly withdrew all forces on a predetermined date. Refusing to listen to experts that urged them to keep at least 2,500-3,000 troops as a deterrent to a hostile takeover. Don’t let any side start pointing fingers. The incompetence on display over the last 20 years is shared equally with the left and the right. The Republicans and Democrats. We learned nothing in Vietnam, we better learn something from this. My Father suffered defeat in Vietnam, I now suffer defeat in Afghanistan. I’ll be damned if my son has to experience this anguish 30 years from now in some other faraway land. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/comethisfar/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/comethisfar/support