Yesterday, President Joe Biden addressed the nation as the Taliban took over Kabul. In his remarks, he stood firmly by his decision to leave Afghanistan, saying,

I’m now the fourth American President to preside over war in Afghanistan — two Democrats and two Republicans. I will not pass this responsibly on — responsibility on to a fifth President.

He also said:

I cannot and I will not ask our troops to fight on endlessly in another — in another country’s civil war, taking casualties, suffering life-shattering injuries, leaving families broken by grief and loss. This is not in our national security interest.

He is right to stand by his decision. It was time for the U.S. to leave Afghanistan. In fact, the U.S. achieved its goals, which were to dismantle al Qaeda in Afghanistan and capture Osama bin Laden within the first decade of the war. Even as past presidents like Barack Obama and Donald Trump tried to leave, they were unable to. Something like this outcome was inevitable.

What was not inevitable, however, is the incompetent way the U.S. left Afghanistan. While Biden had announced that all U.S. troops would leave by September 11, 2021, the 20^th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the U.S., the withdrawal was basically complete by mid-August. In fact, U.S. troops left the Bagram airbase in the middle of the night without telling the new Afghan commander. To say that the withdrawal could – and should – have been handled better is an understatement.

But beyond the chaotic nature of the withdrawal, there are two things that Biden botched in his speech. The first is his criticism of the Afghan forces. Biden said,

American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong — incredibly well equipped — a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies.



We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force — something the Taliban doesn’t have. Taliban does not have an air force. We provided close air support.



We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future.

It’s true, the U.S. did train and equip the Afghan forces for the last two decades. It’s easy to blame Afghan forces for not having the will to fight, but what President Biden failed to mention was lack of air power and Pentagon’s reliance on contractors to maintain the Afghan Air Force. The U.S. military has relied heavily on air power to keep its meager hold on Afghanistan. In July, President Biden had vowed that the Afghan Air Force would be able to maintain its capacity. According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report from April 2021, the Afghan Air Force had 162 aircraft, and 143 were “mission-capable” but their capacity was threatened due to a lack of spare parts, which were provided by U.S. contractors that left – and this is something that the Afghan lawmakers alerted the Biden administration to. Similarly, the U.S. was supposed to supply the Afghan military with 37 Black Hawk helicopters and retrain the pilots to increase the air force’s capacity, but were unable to, hindering the Afghan Air Force’s ability to maintain its fighting power and ability to fight the Taliban. So yes, the Afghan forces fell quickly – “This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated” – but it’s not reducible to lacking the will to fight.

Second, President Biden didn’t even mention the U.S. military’s inability to evacuate Afghan interpreters: People who not only helped the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, but were the main reason why the U.S. could stay in the country for as long as it did. These Afghans not only endangered their lives but also those of their immediate and extended families by helping U.S. troops and contractors, to now be left vulnerable to the depredations of the Taliban (or any other group). The Biden administration should have prioritized fixing the broken Special Immigrant Visa system and accelerating these visas. Why was this not done? Furthermore, the Biden administration should allow Afghan refugees to enter immediately. As Alex Nowrasteh argues, there is no good reason not to let Afghan refugees in. And frankly, it’s the least we can do after invading their country and occupying it for 20 years.

As the world prepares to recognize the Taliban, the Biden administration needs to grapple with its failures regarding the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. The president may not have answered any questions after this speech yesterday, but he won’t be able to avoid these questions, and others, much longer.