Veterans described the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover as “gut-wrenching,” “predictable,” and “heartbreaking,” blaming Joe Biden’s failed leadership for the debacle.
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, said it was “heartbreaking” to see the Taliban setting the conditions in Afghanistan.
“No, I’m sorry, the American president and the secretary of defense set the conditions,” he said. “But it seems just the opposite of that…it’s heartbreaking after 20 years in Afghanistan to see the blood, sweat and tears that have been spent there now evaporating into this debacle.”
“It’s really gut-wrenching to watch this,” said Pennsylvania state senator Douglas Mastriano. “So much sacrifice. So much commitment. So much blood, sweat, and tears. And for nothing. It was squandered.”
Mastriano, who served active duty for 30 years in the Army, including three tours in Afghanistan, believed that it was time to wind down our troop presence in Afghanistan, but said Joe Biden’s method of retreat caused a “catastrophe” in the country.
The Afghan military force, he said, was trained to rely on the United States and western military tactics. When that was ripped away from them with the U.S. withdrawal, they were unable to hold their own.
“This was predictable, to say the least,” he said.
Army veteran Jack Carr was in Afghanistan in 2003, and predicted then that when the United States withdrew from the country, those on the ground would be left to fend for themselves at the mercy of the Taliban.
“I was thinking about the future of everyone that we worked with over there,” he said. “Knowing that someday, somebody was going to come for them, and not just them, but their families.”
Despite this, he said the situation could have been handled “so much better.”
“It’s almost as if we were trying to make a mess of this,” he said. “We could not have done this worse had we been actively trying to do the worst job we actually could.”
Wesley Hunt, a West Point graduate and Army veteran, said the current crisis in Afghanistan has stemmed from leadership who has “completely ignored the last 20 years.”
Hunt said the United States had the situation in Afghanistan under control, and all Joe Biden had to do was “nothing.”
Instead, Hunt said, Joe Biden wanted his “moment,” and to be able to say on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 that there were no troops in Afghanistan.
“That’s not leadership,” Hunt said. “When you lead, you do what’s right, not politically expedient.”
Republicans, Democrats, and members of the media have all criticized the chaos that ensued after Biden’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, with several making calls for his resignation and the resignation of members of his national security team.
Pfluger called Biden “disconnected from reality,” both on the ground in Afghanistan and among the American public.
Carr noted that all it took to predict the current climate in Afghanistan was “common sense.”
“That’s it, that’s the baseline,” he said. “Our leaders are proving over and over how inept they are.”