The Press Gets It Right on Afghanistan

The execution however has represented one of the most startling foreign policy failures in American history with numerous commentators officeholders and even a Marine present on the roof of the United States embassy in Saigon during the evacuation there arguing that the Fall of Kabul amp8220definitely is worseamp8221 than that of Saigon American equipment and weapons with a combined value totaling in the billions of dollars were left behind for the Taliban including even amp8220Black Hawk helicopters and A29 Super Tucano attack aircraftamp8221 The departure took place without the security of the United States embassy in Kabul being assured and the proverbial cart was put before the force by withdrawing service members ahead of many noncombatants The Pentagon has indicated that Americans were beaten in the vicinity of Hamid Karzai International Airport and to make matters worse a factcheck by The New York Times suggests that President Biden has made numerous false and misleading statements when commenting on the withdrawal including at times even contradicting the official line from the PentagonFortunately the press has been effective in making Americans aware of the goingson even when the targets of scrutiny are political figures often favored by many journalists As Peter Baker writes in The New York Times amp8220For most of the last week in the fires of the worst foreign policy crisis of his young administration the president who won the White House on a promise of competence and compassion has had trouble demonstrating much of eitheramp8221 The Portuguese author and former politician Bruno Maamp231amp227es who wrote a series of excellent dispatches as the withdrawal was unfolding in one lucid tweet even wrote amp8220As someone who never supported Trump or Biden I think I can be impartial when I say Biden has done more to diminish Americaamp8217s standing in the world in 7 months than Trump in 4 years I am slightly surprised by this by the wayamp8221And then there were the headlines and magazine covers from The Economistamp8217s amp8220Bidenamp8217s Debacleamp8221 to the New York Postamp8217s amp8220DumKirkamp8221 the latter causing Sohrab Ahmari to quip quotMy colleagues are geniusesquot Some headlines overstated matters such as Michael Kazinamp8217s New York Times essay amp8220To Save His Presidency Biden Must Tell the Truth About Afghanistanamp8221 News cycles after all can come and go and domestic issues often take precedence over foreign affairs though it may be the case that the Fall of Kabul will become the event that defines this presidency as the Iran Hostage Crisis arguably did President Jimmy Carteramp8217s An August 21st USA Today editorial similarly asked if Kabul would become quotPresident Biden39s KatrinaquotThe Wall Street Journal in particular has boasted an impressive panoply of editorials and commentary pieces on Afghanistan including guest opinions from former Vice President Mike Pence Rep Dan Crenshaw and former National Security Advisor HR McMaster the latter written with Bradley Bowman Other noteworthy papers included Seth J Frantzmanamp8217s thoughtprovoking Jerusalem Post piece quotThe Afghan gov39t overthrown by Taliban never existed exsoldierquot multiple outletsamp8217 attention to the particularly galling image of Taliban fighters mocking the famous image of American marines raising the US flag at Iwo Jima and ontheground live reporting from journalists remaining in Afghanistan for as long as possibleThen there were the critics of the critics who argued some version of The media provides far more scrutiny to how a war is ended than how one begins but this makes sense because the national press is generally quite bellicose Although there may be some truth to the argument put forward by those such as Glenn Greenwald and Pedro Gonzalez that the American press from the prelude to World War I on down historically has been amp8220prowaramp8221 in this case much of the media attention has correctly focused on the failed process of ending the war more than it has fully endorsed continuing the conflict in Afghanistan And though there were occasions where interview guests such as McMaster made the case for continuing the military presence in Afghanistan on CBS this in my view is a worthwhile perspective at least to hear outTo be sure this is the most sustained and comprehensive outpouring of criticism of the Biden administration yet seen on the part of the press and it is more than justified From the haste of the collapse to longstanding misleading statements about the competence of the Afghan National Security Forces being revealed to be untrue to watching American citizens being at the mercy of the Taliban when trying to reach the airport for evacuation recent events in Afghanistan have marked a stunning failure in American military and diplomatic capabilityFor once a few gadflies notwithstanding the press from Right to Left was unified in bringing into focus the extent of the incompetence that has so frustratingly been on displayClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The Press Gets It Right on Afghanistan

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Erich J. Prince

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