Escaping, Explaining, and Still Not Getting It

Boy, America has a short memory. 

A scant year ago, We, the People, were watching a century of diplomacy unravel before our very eyes. We read the GOP's laughable platform on Afghanistan, and witnessed the dismantling of the emergency visa program. We groaned in unison at the expectation of chaos should a timetable be set for withdrawal from Afghanistan even though we pretty much had majority agreement that withdrawal had to happen. Anyone who thought this was going to be a happy, fun-filled event was already living deep in LaLaLand. Anyone with half an ounce of both memory and forethought knew this was going to be a chaotic shit-storm when it rolled out. 

Seven months ago, Joe Biden inherited that shit-storm along with an attempted coup d'etat and the lowest international esteem American has had since the 19th century. Gee, I wonder why that is.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The withdrawal is routinely panned as a debacle. It is chaotic, to be sure, badly executed, and near as I can tell, horribly planned. Can't disagree with any of that, other than to wonder: What was plan B? Was there a plan B? Or C? D? E? Or even F? I have no idea and neither does anyone else.  A year ago, Feckless Leader would've been blaming Nancy Pelosi for the plan gone wrong. Or Chuck Schumer. Or Antifa. 

This year, we have a president who points out that the Afghan government discouraged beginning the evacuation sooner, and that the government and armed forces basically allowed the Taliban to enter Kabul unopposed. But he goes on to say:

I am deeply saddened by the facts we now face, but I do not regret my decision.

MY DECISION. These are the two most important words said to the American People this week. We have a president who OWNS his actions. Indeed, the buck does stop with him.  Does anyone think Feckless could've done better? That if he was in charge,  the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan would be any less chaotic? Is anyone stupid enough to believe Feckless Leader had a workable plan...or did Ivanka eat this homework, too? It must've been in the same notebook with his plan for affordable health care that wasn't Obamacare. 

No, President Biden isn't perfect, and his performance isn't flawless, but for G-d's sake! Look what he's been handed. You cannot clean up a mess four years in the making in just seven months. You can make inroads. You can improve relations with our allies, but it's neither clean nor easy. There is a whole lotta make-up work to be done. 

I'm not delusional about our government, and I'm certainly not expecting Biden to be a miracle president. All I want is a guy who understands how a country is supposed to work and works toward that end. You would think after 4 years of non-stop drama bullshit, the armchair quarterbacks in the press would say, "Hey, he's cleaning up the mess. Let's see how this goes." 

I am so tired of all the complaining because it makes We, the People, look petty and small. I really want to wait a year to see how much is quick-fix and how much requires the long haul. It's like the vaccine approval granted to Pfizer today: we knew it was coming, it doesn't change the efficacy of the vaccine, but maybe now that there's a new stamp-of-approval some of the troglodytes will go get vaccinated instead of trying to get veterinary grade Invermectin. 

Yeah, yeah, you can't fix stupid and you can't convince whole swaths of people that science is real. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

...manscaping has been an endless source of amusement. A number of people came forward to express their preference for my original definition of men escaping responsibility.  I've also been told by a member of the clergy that manscaping is "an important part of a man's personal hygiene and good grooming." Too Much Information!!!!!!!!! The senior son is getting endless laughs outta how I asked him about it. Who knew this was such a hot button issue?  

Ultimately, what really surprised me was the even split between people who knew what it was and who didn't know what it was. Sure, that made me feel less like a naïf, but it also brought forth the idea that language is changing more rapidly these days. I got into a discussion about manscaping and mansplaining with several women, all of whom felt there was a certain artifice in both words, that neither captured the essence of the thought. Which, in turn, made me think about all those other new-fangled words and pronounceable acronyms that are basically meaningless to me sans Google search. 

And oddly enough, that brought me right back to Afghanistan and President Biden. The Taliban  has long suppressed all modernity for the masses. Leadership might get internet et al, but unless you are in an elevated position, you are back to fire pits and mud huts. Women will lose even more standing under Taliban repression. The knowledge they acquired during the brief "freedom" years will be obliterated by non-use. The subjugation of women is practiced; it is not a theory.  An entire population will be denied the right to think. The odds of the Taliban stepping into enlightenment are slim to none. President Biden knows that. Where he screwed up was reading Feckless Leader's assessment of Taliban leadership. They sold him a bill of shoddy goods, and, like every other one of his endeavors, it was worthless. 

In an interview with CNN, former Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, said:

...My concern was that President Trump, by continuing to want to withdraw American forces out of Afghanistan, undermined the agreement, which is why in the fall when he was calling for a return of US forces by Christmas, I objected and formally wrote a letter to him, a memo based on recommendations from the military chain of command and my senior civilian leadership that we not go further -- that we not reduce below 4,500 troops unless and until conditions were met by the Taliban. Otherwise, we would see a number of things play out, which are unfolding right now in many ways."

If you get the chance, read the transcript of the interview with Christiane Amanpour. Epser continued to blame President Biden, but read what he says...outta both sides of his mouth. Talk about mansplaining. Are the billions spent on training Afghan troops worth it? Apparently not. Trained in western tactics, they were never trained to their strengths. It should come as no surprise to anyone that they walked away from Kabul. 

Nor should it be a surprise that the people of Afghanistan got the government they ostensibly wanted. Will a movement rise up to throw off the shackles of fundamentalism in favor of modernity? Who knows. 

But here's the thing: it's not very different in many Muslim states. Saudi Arabia claims to be moving in the direction of equality for woman, but when your starting point is fundamentalist sexist slavery, the journey is long. Wanna talk about Yemen? How about Iran? Iraq, Syria? How about Gaza? 

Googling just about anything I want, is not a right, human or civil. I can do it because I live in a country that does not routinely subjugate women and cut off access to the outside world. Sometimes, I forget that. Sometimes, I think we forgot that not every country is western, full of tablets, laptops, smartphones accessing the vast ocean of information on a whim. 

Yes, Afghanistan is chaotic at the moment, but flights are leaving and people are getting out. I suppose the real issue will be what they do with the new freedom. Someone should tell them they won't be the first group to establish a government-in-absentia. Maybe that's how they begin the fight for themselves. 

Or not.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The lead-up to the Jewish High Holy Days has begun.

The shofar is sounded at morning minyan

Be aware, gentle readers, Rosh HaShanna and the Sukkot holy days all start on 

Monday nights, which mean I won't be publishing on Monday nights. 

Look for a revised WP schedule next week.