Thoughts on Afghanistan evacuation
4 min readAug 31, 2021
- Americans in Afghanistan were told nine times by the US Embassy to evacuate. There were even offers to pay for airfare. Still, they did not leave. Why?
- More than 127,000+ people were rescued from Afghanistan in the biggest airlift in United States history. There were something like 15,000 Americans in Afghanistan on August 17th. Between 100–200 remain after the last flight out of Kabul. Why did those 100–200 stay? Were they left behind? Or did they choose to stay?
- Today is August 31st—the deadline for the evacuation. Over 1,100 Americans died this week. Not in Afghanistan though; in Florida. From COVID. 13 Americans were tragically murdered in an explosion outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26th. Americans only care about human deaths when it advances their own narrative. The 13 Americans killed outside the airport were US service members but there were at least 90 Afghanis among them. The bleeding hearts don’t care about those people. They care only about the hot button issues that advance their narrative. They continue to exploit the deaths of those service members for their own personal gain.
- The problem was never the evacuation. The problem was never bringing the troops home. The problem was (and still is) the execution of the evacuation. But, in reality, this was going to be a complete firestorm no matter what. Even in this sloppy evacuation, only 13 Americans died. So, if I want to play their game, how is there this much outrage over 13 deaths and not the 1,100+ just this past week in 1 of the 50 United States?
- To those who bitched about President Biden + the media giving air time to those in the path of catastrophic Hurricane Ida: who the fuck do you think you are? Hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of people were in the way of this Category 4 monster and you had the BALLS to suggest attention should be taken away from them. You seem to care so much about Americans and peoples’ lives in general, but you suggest that we ignore those in the path of this storm. Disaster was inevitable in our homeland and we should prioritize the 100–200 Americans in Afghanistan who refused to heed warnings and directions to evacuate? The outrage is only here because of who is living in the White House. If it were still Donald Trump, the other half of the country would be outraged as well, no doubt. I’m not suggesting there is only one side with issue at all. People only care about the things that advance their own narratives. Remember the 4 souls lost in Benghazi (2011)? It was Hillary’s fault because she was the sitting Secretary of State for a country where half of its population hate her for reasons only fueled by conspiracy theorists. And the 4 souls lost in Niger (2018) while Trump was still living in the White House? Those same people who vehemently pursued Hillary’s head were completely silent on the Niger attacks. It’s never about the number of deaths. It’s never about who lost their life. It’s always about attacking an elected official. It’s always only about advancing one’s narrative.
- There was never $800 billion dollars of equipment and assets left behind as this guy suggested to me on his personal Facebook. The 20-year war cost us an est. $2 trillion. Obviously, nothing to joke about, but since the value of equipment left behind is less than $10 billion, it’s worth noting the drastic difference between $800 billion and $10 billion. Yet, folks continue to push numbers that advance their own narratives.
- I’m so glad we’re out of Afghanistan. This was going to be a complete and utter mess no matter what. In 20 years, Biden will be hailed a hero for this. But today, he’s being vilified by folks who can’t help but get sucked down Facebook’s rabbit holes. In my (controversial) opinion, we should’ve rocked the f*ck out of al-Qaeda after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We should’ve rocked the Taliban for harboring those terrorists and hiding them from us. We should’ve done this 20 years ago. I’m willing to argue that our world would be much better off had we done that instead of invading + occupying another country for two decades. More harm was done this way. Neither of these two options is at all good. But you cannot come after the f*cking UNITED STATES like you did on 9/11 and expect to come out to a world of butterflies and rainbows. The only thing that will be able to change my opinion on this is if it’s proven that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were actually an inside job. Today, to me, that’s a conspiracy theory. One that irks me. I don’t believe for a second this was the case. Until that day comes though, I believe we should’ve rocked al-Qaeda terrorists to the stars and been done with them. And I’m sure this is far easier said than done.
- To the innocent people of Afghanistan who grew up during this war: I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. We’ve completely fucked your entire lives + your entire family’s life. I am so so sorry. You know nothing outside of a life of war. You know nothing outside of a life of murder, death, and despair. My heart hurts for you. You are so loved.
