Who is to blame?
OPINION PIECE
-Who is to blame for the collapse of Afghanistan?
What is occurring in Afghanistan is horrid and challenging to watch on a global stage. It is heartbreaking to see women, children, and ordinary Afghan citizens hold onto American aircrafts with the hope of freedom and having it fail. The situation of the Afghan people has always been difficult, and unfortunately, it is just getting worse. This is not just an endless war; it is a human rights crisis for all Afghan people.
Watching the Afghani catastrophe unfold has led us to ask: who is to blame for this suffering. It is normal to want to know who and what to blame for all this pain. And as humans, we urge to find the culprit(s) of heinous crimes; however, in this case, multiple factors played into the current situation. No one is entirely at fault for what is happening. Not even the best intelligence could have predicted the swift fall of Afghanistan in such a short period of time. Yes, the United States, specifically Biden, made some mistakes, but this crisis is not of his complete doing. What has already taken place is in the past; countries made terrible calls, and we can no longer afford to dwell on these actions. The most important thing now is that we should ALL be focusing on a solution to this issue.
The United States had done its best to provide the Afghan military with the money, training, and supplies needed to hold off the Taliban. American troops spent 20 years on Afghan soil helping to contain the Taliban from further impeding their country’s democracy, and in some ways, we succeeded. Yes, we did not win the war, but we planted the seeds of democracy and power in the Afghani government through our generous aid. After this long-fought battle, Biden hoped that our troops could finally come back home. Nevertheless, the United States expected and believed that Afghanistan would use the knowledge/power given to them in their defense against the Taliban. But this prospect quickly receded and was washed away. The Afghani government failed to protect, defend, and lead its people through its darkest times.
I can agree that the United States’ exit plan was not executed in the most efficient way possible, and this single mistake cost innocent lives. While this is not an excuse for the U.S., the Afghani government abandoned its people and vulnerable country. Their actions are equally to blame, if not more than the Biden-Harris administration. In fact, it is more important to find viable solutions to this complicated issue than finding who to blame.
What angers me the most is the following: our intelligence agencies knew of the Taliban’s strength and ability to take over Afghanistan, but yet we chose to ignore the idea of evacuating innocent civilians in danger of attack before our troops left. It was undoubtedly inevitable that the Taliban would assume control of Afghanistan again; however, we did not believe it would be this quick. The priority of the United States should have been to protect the thousands of interpreters that aided our troops these past 20 years, but we failed them too. They were abandoned and left alone to fend for themselves in a country that now seems estranged. Lives could have been spared, but our plan failed. Our goal, resources, and faith in the Afghan government failed us all.
The United States can no longer turn the other way as people are dying, some of whom equally risked their lives as our troops. Abandonment of people can not be the solution to this ongoing crisis; it is not good enough. We have the privilege of freedom, peace, and a republic, but the Afghan people have none. I know the United States can not watch, protect, and defend everyone but what has transpired in this country is partially our fault. There was never going to be a “right” time to leave Afghanistan, but now that it has been done and we have all witnessed the ramifications, some changes needs to come forth. Failure is not an option for the leaders of the free world.
Photo Credit: Andrew Quilty
