Defeat’s Darkening Shadow
10th October 2021
For years, advocates of ending American support for the government of Afghanistan pontificated that withdrawal would have no adverse consequences: That fractious country had no geopolitical significance. If the Taliban took it over, that would mean not much more than a jihadi conquest of Pluto.
In one sense, they were right. It has been a mere 40 days since Joe Biden ordered our soldiers to scuttle away like frightened rabbits, leaving billions of dollars of weaponry behind. Thousands of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, along with tens of thousands of Afghans who aided our armed forces, are trapped inside the Taliban’s domain. And already attention has drifted elsewhere. As I type this post, the “Latest Headlines” page on the Wall Street Journal’s web site lists 50 stories. Not one is about Afghanistan.