Slight miscalculation
Biden seems to have overpromised to European allies.
President Joe Biden told key allies in June that he would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan to ensure they could continue to operate in the capital following the main U.S. withdrawal, a vow made before the Taliban’s rapid final push across the country, according to a British diplomatic memo seen by Bloomberg.
Biden promised U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, that “critical U.S. enablers” would remain in place to keep Kabul safe following the drawdown of NATO forces, the note said. British officials determined the U.S. would provide enough personnel to ensure that the U.K. embassy in Kabul could continue operating.
Sooooo they’re now pretty pissed off at him.
The British document also showed that the U.S. was privately briefing allies that they should be prepared for a Taliban offensive before any settlement that might have allowed former President Ashraf Ghani to remain in power. U.S. diplomats said that the Taliban would “test the Afghan government militarily” before they started taking seriously peace talks that were taking place in Doha, the note said.
Ah test it, is that what they were doing – so they “tested” it and next thing you know they had taken over every inch of it.
I suspect Joe was expecting all the blow-back for this to fall on Donald, and so he opted to rush out before something else horrible happened on his own watch. Major miscalculation, if I’m right. Frankly, we should’ve reinforced the troops in Kabul and made sure we held the capital until all US personnel and as many allies as feasible could be evac’ed (and, in my private moments of fancy, every woman who showed up asking for asylum). Then, and only then, should we have withdrawn the actual forces.