Bungled Afghanistan Exit Was Preventable

Max Boot: “The Taliban will now be more dangerous than ever. This is on Biden, and it will leave an indelible stain on his presidency.”

“The words that Biden uses to describe the delta variant — a ‘largely preventable tragedy that will get worse before it gets better’ — apply to his handling of Afghanistan. Former defense secretary Robert Gates once said that Biden ‘has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.’ He has certainly been calamitously, tragically, wrong about Afghanistan.”

“Biden will spend the rest of his presidency grappling with the tragic consequences of this preventable disaster.”

Bret Stephens: “This is happening on Biden’s watch, at Biden’s insistence, against the advice of his senior military advisers and with Biden’s firm assurance to the American people that what has just come to pass wouldn’t come to pass.”

“Biden owns the moment. He also owns the consequences.”