there were 2500 troops in Afghanistan at the start of the Biden administration. Milley said they should keep 2500 there. So basically Milley was not for the complete withdrawal that both Trump and Biden wanted and had been previously negotiated. So really what they are saying is they wanted to keep a residual force there, permanently. Perhaps that would have been the best outcome, but I think it is reasonable to think that if we reneged on the agreement, the Taliban would have escalated and we would have had to increase our presence even more. Rinse, repeat. I’m pretty sure we would have ended up losing more than 13 troops.
I’ve voted almost exclusively democrat my whole voting life. I voted for Ross Perot. Yes, I very much regret voting for Biden but it won’t happen again. Changed my political affiliation from democrat to independent. 5 family members are former democrats.
I came from the other side. Seems both sides have gone nuts. The middle hopefully gets crowded but from looking at this forum you can see some on the far left and far right will never admit their side sucks.
I'm a Republican, I have no problem admitting my side sucks with the rise of Trump and the maga nation. The scary part is that Trump has decimated the R party by pushing aside non Maga.
It sucks that trump did do that. Also sucks that the left went batshit crazy with Covid lockdowns, school closures, masking. So let's call both sides idiots and move on.
This one too. My 93-year-old dad would approve too. He's still pretty sharp. Still reads the entire New York Times every day, then immediately nods off.
I wondered if he might be until I watched the debate. You sound like a fifth grader arguing with a fourth grader.
At the time at happened it was really discouraging and seemed like a black eye for Biden, but bad as it was, I don’t know that there was an optimal play. I look at it like this - we were there 20 years, and were unable create an Afghan military and government that could survive even days after we left. Now I’m going to blame the ugly withdrawal on Biden? I’m not sure why we should be surprised that the withdrawal was a cluster.
