Attacking former President Donald Trump’s decision to sign an exit deal with the Taliban, 72-year-old former National Security Adviser John Bolton continued to slam the former president, now turning his ire onto 78-year-old President Joe Biden for the debacle in Kabul. Bolton pounced on today’s ISIS suicide attack at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. military and a total of 73, injuring dozens more. “Trying to extricate yourself from this withdrawal is I think difficult if not impossible to do, especially to rewrite history about what actually happened,” Bolton told Politico. “I think that’s a prescription for Democratic attack ads that would be fatal to someone’s credibility,” Bolton said, referring to Trump Feb. 29, 2020 agreement for a May 1, 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Bolton and certain Democrats want to blame Biden’s debacle on Trump, when it’s clearly Biden’s failure.
After nearly 20 years in Afghanistan since launching Operation Enduring Freedom Oct. 7, 2001, only three weeks after Sept. 11, where some 2,996 Americans lost their lives when Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden flew jetliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Today’s ISIS attack at the Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai airport reminds all Americans about the lingering dangers of terrorism. With the 20-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 looming, the dangers of a new terrorist attack are more real than ever. Bolton used today’s terror attack to slam the Trump and Biden policy to end the 20-year-old Afghan War, something Bolton sees as surrender. But after spending over $1 trillion and losing 2,448 soldiers, Trump thought it was time to get out, realizing the diminishing return for U.S. troops. Bolton considered Trump’s Feb. 29, 2020 deal with the Taliban a surrender agreement.
Trump fired Bolton Sept. 10, 2019 for his war-mongering rhetoric that was alienating Trump’s relations with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Trump said at the time that Bolton would get the U.S. into WW III. Bolton blamed the chaos and panic in Kabul on Trump and Biden. If Bolton got his way, the U.S. would continue the Afghan War indefinitely, despite the loss of blood-and-treasure to the U.S. Trump’s second National Security Adviser 58-year-old H.R. McMaster slammed Trump for surrendering in Afghanistan, urging Biden to immediately stop the withdrawal of U.S. forces and start up the war on terror. Like Bolton, McMaster wanted Trump to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, continuing the guerrilla war with the Taliban. Trump decided there was no upside for the U.S. continuing the 20-year-old Afghan War, squandering more U.S. lives and wasting more tax dollars.
Biden’s decision to extend Trump’s exit date from May 1 to Aug. 31, gave him plenty of time to execute an orderly exit strategy. But instead of an orderly transition, Biden waited until the last minute, only after 72-year-old former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Once Ghani fled, the Taliban seized all of Afghanistan, something that had been going on for months. Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Aug. 18 that there’s nothing he could have done differently. Well, had he just followed his exit plan to start evacuating U.S. and Afghan citizens in April, he would have avoided the eventual stampede to the exits, leaving the Karzai airport vulnerable to an ISIS terror attack. Biden had all the time necessary for an orderly exit but chose to wait until the last minute to start evacuating U.S. Citizens. Bolton wants to continue the war thinking that there’s victory in sight.
Trump fired Bolton precisely because he would have had the U.S. at war with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Bolton likes talking to the liberal press that likes to slam Trump for just about everything. Bolton and H.R. McMaster urge Biden to reverse course, call off the withdrawal, and start the war with the Taliban again. But in case Bolton or McMaster noticed, the Taliban wasn’t responsible for today’s suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops, throwing a monkey wrench into an already chaotic an exit plan. Biden’s problem was not his decision to end the Afghan War, it was his procrastination, poor planning and chaotic way he started to evacuate U.S. and Afghan citizens. Bolton and McMaster would start up the war again under the false belief that the U.S. could win the Afghan War. However bad the Taliban, they’re much better than than ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
Biden’s problem in Afghanistan is not his decision to end a nearly 20-year military intervention. Biden waited until the last minute before evacuation U.S. and Afghan citizens, creating a stampede on the airport, the massive crowds serving as a soft target for ISIS terrorists. Biden announced plans to leave Afghanistan April 17, wasted four precious months in which he could have executed a safe-and-orderly exit strategy. Instead he waited until former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, signaling to the Taliban it was time to take over. Former Director of National Security Bolton and McMaster see everything in terms of surrender, rather than “enough-is-enough.” Today’s carnage could have been prevented had Biden spent the last four months evacuating U.S. and Afghan citizens. Waiting till the last minute caused the chaos and opened the door for today’s ISIS attack.
