Yes. It Is Time to Leave Afghanistan

Thoughts on Afghanistan:

1. As much as I loathe the Taliban, the US has spent $83 billion over 20 years to train Afghanis to resist them. The effort failed. There is no evidence that billions more would change anything. Just as the corrupt governments in Saigon could not win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese, the ineffective parade of leaders in Kabul could not bring unity and stability to their nation.

2. That $83 billion could have been spent improving America’s healthcare system and public schools and lifting the economic burden from the working and middle classes.

3. There is no appreciable will among the American public for endless wars.

4. The bravery of our troops who fought and died in Afghanistan is unquestioned. They did their duty. As with Vietnam, our government’s policy failed – not the troops.

5. As Liz Cheney pointed out this morning, “the calamity unfolding in Afghanistan began with the Trump administration negotiating with terrorists and pretending they were partners for peace.” I say the calamity began decades ago with President Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11. Most of the perpetrators that day were Saudis, not the Taliban. And from the beginning, Bush had no end game or plan for withdrawal.

6. To be sure, it was President Biden’s decision (correct, in my opinion) to pull American troops from this hopeless cause. He will suffer the political fallout. Republicans are quick to claim he "has blood on his hands,” without mentioning the blood on Bush’s or their hands for designing and funding this quagmire.

7. At least President Biden is helping to extract and resettle those Afghanis who worked with our military. Trump turned his back on the Kurds and threw them to the wolves.

July 4, 2021 -- and Norman Corwin

On this holiday, when we contemplate our nation, or, more appropriately, the ideas of “democracy” and “justice for all,” which remain stubbornly elusive, let me offer a hopeful and brilliant line from one of the greatest radio broadcasts in history.

The masterpiece was written and delivered on May 8, 1945, by the inimitable Norman Corwin. Nearly half the nation – 60 million Americans – tuned in.

The moment, and the message, seem more relevant than ever, considering the current climate of hatred and nativism stoked by the previous administration – an all-out attack on immigrants, minorities, voting rights, an independent judiciary, a free press, and truth itself.

May 8 was VE Day. We celebrated the allied victory over Nazi Germany. Hitler, aided by those who enabled him, terrorized and murdered millions of Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, gypsies, the infirmed, and political opponents of the left.

In his broadcast, “On a Note of Triumph,” Corwin praised the valor of all who took the fight to fascism, especially the G.I.s who won the war. He also pondered the larger questions of what we had learned and what would prevent such a horror to reoccur. The indefatigable poet and journalist reminded us that – at least on that day – good had vanquished evil in the name of our highest values.

“Post proof,” he said, “that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit by postponing it pretend.”