It’s relatively easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize the ham-fisted Biden administration leadership in Washington D.C. and the Kabul airport. But now, those failures have cost at least 12 U.S. Marines and soldiers their lives. First reports after the initial news that a suicide bomber attacked the Abbey Gate at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul were that four US Marines were killed and three wounded. More recent reporting from Fox News put the deaths at 12 military personnel, mostly Marines. A second bombing took place at the Baron Hotel close to the Abbey Gate. Though numbers are only trickling in, numerous reports of many Afghan women and children being killed and injured in the bombings. Meanwhile, according to sources on the ground, the Taliban government is trying to distance itself from the bombings.
(Photo by Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The terrorist organization ISIS-K is suspected of being responsible only because the ISIS knockoff in Kabul said that it would attack the “airport gates and military and commercial aircraft evacuating people from the capital.” The threats were not a secret. And yet, the Biden administration again withdrew 400 military members that could have provided additional security. It has been a constant criticism of the national security leadership from the inception of the U.S. retreat from Afghanistan. Do not withdraw the armed forces’ security capability before evacuating the American civilians, contractors, and Afghan allies. This warning was disregarded, and the consequences have been disastrous.
True to form, the deaths of brave U.S. service members took a back seat to Democrats’ political talking points.
As Fox News reports, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first tweets following the news of the Kabul bombings were not about the loss of brave U.S. service members, but about Women’s Equality Day and the Biden administration sloganeering “Building Back Better.” As a result, Americans can sleep more soundly tonight, knowing the Democratic congressional leaders have their priorities right.
What these bombings demonstrate is that the Taliban has no legitimacy as a government. It cannot provide security within what it claims to be its capital. But then it remains to be seen what the U.S. will do in response to the bombings. A tweet from Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) threw down the challenge. “‘ We made clear to the Taliban that any attack, any attack on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with a swift and forceful response.’ – Joe Biden, one week ago. We are waiting…Mr. President, your move.” If the past is prologue, we will wait a long time.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.
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