link to original reddit post by /u/thisistheperfectname
First and foremost, I'm glad that this multi-decade debacle appears to finally be drawing to a close. I didn't believe the Biden administration when they announced it earlier this year, but I have to give credit where credit is due. We're coming home.
That's where my positivity ends. Looking at it from the outside, it seems that they abandoned the orderly withdrawal that Trump was attempting, and was subsequently sabotaged by the military. Perhaps this is on purpose, so that the military will have plenty of excuses to go back and pursue its own interests. Leaving bases in the middle of the night with no notice and leaving equipment behind for the Taliban is a recipe for disaster on the ground. Add in the embarrassment of having to airlift our own embassy personnel out of harm's way, since apparently the encroachment of the Taliban came far faster than the administration was willing to entertain. Rumors abound about ignored intelligence and infighting within the administration, but I’m not sure how much can be substantiated on that.
It also seems that the Afghan government was in no position to defend itself for reasons that were true before we even got there. If Afghanistan was always a concept that its people would not defend, since loyalty exists towards the tribe and the Ummah with little in between, what could we possibly have accomplished there that wouldn't be undone upon withdrawal, other than the initial onslaught against the various terror groups and pursuit of Bin Laden? This is a concern no matter who the President is. Afghanistan apparently does not want to defend itself, so what were we doing with our lives and resources?
If you were President, how would you have handled this?