The rapid collapse of Afghanistan under an onslaught of religious fanatics with primitive weapons was completely predictable. Yet President Biden maintained that it would not happen, as we closed our largest military base (Bagram air base), reduced our military presence, and eliminated our offensive capability in the middle of Afghanistan’s summer fighting season.
We have now learned that Biden overruled his military and civilian advisors and precipitously pulled out American forces without a plan to evacuate tens of thousands of Americans and our allies. The resulting chaos in Kabul and consequences around the world are playing out. Some of the consequences were quickly apparent, such as the suicide bombing that killed many at the Kabul Airport. All of the consequences will not be known for years.
Two things are already certain; nothing good will come of this, and it need not have happened in the first place. This was a display of spectacular incompetence, followed inevitably by spectacular failures.
But it was also more than that. President Biden appears lost in his own little world far removed from the reality of the situation. Although the US military presence in Afghanistan did end at the end of August, it left many Westerners and our Afghan friends stranded. Biden wanted his own agony from the terrible situation that he caused to end at all costs. He seems oblivious to the consequences that will be visited upon Americans and our allies left behind, not to mention the longer term consequences for the peace of the world, as America is utterly humiliated and defeated by a ragtag army of religious zealots.
Once the military situation began to deteriorate one might wonder why President Biden did not immediately halt further withdrawals and begin limited military operations again? But Biden is no Trump. He cannot fathom what is happening and how to correct it, such that we could have exited Afghanistan on favorable terms. At one point, he seemed to be bribing the Taliban in hope of getting most Americans out. Such appeasement may work for a short while, as it did for British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1938. But the reality is that it allows our enemies time to solidify their gains and attack us with ever greater force at a later time of their choosing. We should be bargaining from a position of strength not weakness.
What about the vast stores of sophisticated American military equipment seized by the Taliban? Will most of that be used around the world against Americans and American interests? It will surely be used to turn the Taliban into a military power. As Biden bragged in early July, the Afghan army that we equipped is one the best in the world. The only correction needed today is to substitute Taliban for Afghan army.
It should have occurred to someone advising Biden that the United States needed to be prepared for a Taliban takeover, at least to the extent of destroying all the American military equipment in Afghanistan, before it fell into enemy hands. But Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, was too busy apologizing to Congress for his ‘White Privilege’ to develop contingency plans. That public spectacle of complete weakness and incompetence should have resulted in his immediate dismissal. But it probably elevated his stature, because Biden is similarly lost in his own imaginary world, where weakness is perceived as strength and virtue signaling as compassion.
We should offer profound apologies to our allies who fought alongside us in Afghanistan (NATO members Britain, Germany, Norway, Turkey, etc.) and those friendly countries who now find themselves in far greater danger, because of our surrender (notably Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel).
Will Biden abandon them too?
The clear answer is “Yes.” Biden does not have the fortitude to take decisive actions, should China attempt to overrun Taiwan, as Germany did with the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia after another old man (Chamberlain) ceded it to them in the Munich Agreement of 1938. A year later, the Second World War began, as Germany seized Poland.
If China does not take advantage of Biden’s pitiful weakness, will Israel’s enemies seize the moment and try to erase that tiny country with American weapons acquired from the Taliban? And what about Russia’s ambitions to re-establish her empire by seizing all of the Ukraine? We have to hope that our enemies will not seize the opportunity at the same time. Can a defeated America even fight one war now, let alone three?
With an obviously geriatric President, we should wonder if similar debacles are looming on other fronts? This president cannot effectively weigh alternatives, because he is in a perpetual state of denial. Our oldest President prefers the emotional responses that substitute for reasoning in a Post-Modern world.
And that is the point that goes far beyond a hopeless President. We, as a society, have so strongly embraced Post-Modernism that we now show a spectacular inability to make rational decisions on an array of looming problems.
Mexican Border
A nation ceases to be a nation, if it does not secure its borders. Very high levels of illegal immigration across our southern border threaten us with inundation by poor and unskilled people from the Third World. Also, vast quantities of fentanyl from China, heroin from Afghanistan, and the lawlessness that goes with dangerous drugs and human trafficking weaken this country. The Biden Administration seems oblivious to the acute realities, spectacularly incompetent at dealing with them, and losing this war too.
Will Biden withdraw all American forces trying to secure our borders, to achieve “peace in our time?”
Modern Marxism
Traditional Marxism attempted to turn the working man against those who gained wealth by building factories that created vast wealth, which was not evenly distributed. When that failed to bring Marxists to power, they seized it by force, under the banner of Communism. That was their endgame anyway.
Modern Marxism exploits racial rather than economic grievances. Hence, we have seen the emergence of ‘Critical Race Theory’ and other propaganda designed to Balkanize America by energizing minority racial groups against majority Caucasians.
Never mind the reality that America very effectively dealt with racial inequalities in the 1960’s, by delivering equality of opportunity for all. Today, those who want power demand that everyone enjoy equal success, whether they earned it or not. That means the incompetent end up running too many things, the society fails, and Marxists take over.
Economy
Reckless spending is the hallmark of regimes intent on producing widespread temporary benefits that rally the population. But the good times fade as inflation takes a huge toll, because the society has not produced enough goods and services to satisfy demand. In the extreme, such denials of the Laws of Economics lead to people needing a wheelbarrow of money to buy a loaf of bread. Competent leaders avoid printing vast amounts of paper money to pay for their various programs. Bankruptcy results when nations ignore the hard lessons of the past, giving totalitarians the ability to seize power.
Despite consistent denials, Biden is well on his way to grim inflation and potential economic collapse, with China ready to pick up the pieces.
Climate ‘Crisis’
One of Biden’s ways of diverting attention from his failures is to re-energize the “Climate Crisis” as America’s “existential crisis.” Never mind that this crisis is pure make-believe that even defies the Laws of Physics. It is something that Biden can rely upon to rally his science-challenged base. With an army of believers who are very happy to produce endless streams of climate nonsense and climate cures in exchange for trillions of dollars sent their way, the ‘Climate Crisis’ has always been a ‘Crisis of Ignorance’ and a ‘Crisis of Truthfulness.’
Most politicians agree that the catastrophic collapse of Afghanistan is the result of President Biden’s incompetence. We can only hope that a majority of Americans wake up to the realities that he consistently denies. His irrationality pervades most major policy areas, not just those mentioned here.
Will Democrats and Republicans join together to steer us away from the disasters that Biden is incapable of avoiding? That is a tall order for all who have similarly forsaken reality in favor of the make-believe world of Post-Modernism.
How many disasters will we suffer, before we wake up?
Gordon J. Fulks lives in Corbett and can be reached at gordonfulks@hotmail.com. He is one of the Directors of the CO2 Coalition and holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago’s Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research.
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