The fall of Afghanistan is now complete, with reports of the Afghan resistance leadership having fled to Turkey. And the Taliban — now in possession of U.S. weapons abandoned in Biden’s slapdash withdrawal of American troops — is being led by former Guantanamo detainees who were released by former President Barack Obama in exchange for U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in 2014. The “leadership” of Democrats both before and after the Trump administration is on full display.
On Monday, the Taliban jihadists released video of their white banner flying over the provincial capital of Bazarak. That video was shot in the wake of a battle that was as brief as it was predictable. The Taliban were able to overcome the resistance in short order, thanks in large part to advanced weapons left behind as a result of the actions of the Biden administration.
The Taliban claim that Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Massoud has fled to Turkey and given up. Massoud, 32, is the son of legendary freedom fighter Ahmad Shah — known as the “Lion of the Panjshir.” Taliban claims of his flight to Turkey have not been confirmed, and in an audio message released Monday, Massoud denies the claim and calls on all Afghans to begin a national uprising against the Taliban.
That national uprising is necessary — all peoples should fight for their own freedom, and true freedom must be won, not gifted by a foreign power such as the United States. But whether that uprising will be successful is another matter altogether — one complicated by two factors for which the foreign policy of Democrats in the United States are directly to blame.
First is the fact that the Taliban have overwhelmed the resistance in Afghanistan using high-tech U.S. weapons and will likely continue to do so. With every battle they win, the Taliban grow in power and the will of the Afghan people to resist withers.
Second is the fact that four men now holding senior positions in the interim government created by the Taliban in Afghanistan are seasoned jihadists who were once in U.S. custody, but were released by Obama in 2014 as part of a deal to secure the return of U.S. Army Sergeant Beaudry Robert “Bowe” Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban in 2009 after deserting his post.
Before deserting and walking off his post and into enemy hands, Bergdahl sent an e-mail to his parents, leaving no question that he had lost any loyalty he may once have held for the United States. In the e-mail, he states, “I am ashamed to even be american” and “The horror that is america is disgusting.” His lack of capitalizing the “A” in “America” does not appear to be a mistake. Though the rest of his e-mail demonstrates proper capitalization, he never once capitalizes the “A” in America, though he uses the word three times.
In 2014, Obama traded five Taliban fighters who were in custody in Guantanamo for the return of this cowardly deserter. Bergdahl was tried by a general court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He was found guilty on October 16, 2017, and sentenced to be dishonorably discharged, reduced in rank to private, and fined $1,000 per month from his pay for 10 months, with no prison time. Then-President Trump (who in March 2017 called Bergdahl a “dirty, rotten traitor”) called the light sentence “a complete and total disgrace to our Country and to our Military.”
Bergdahl will get to go on with his life.
And so will at least four of the five real Taliban fighters Obama released to secure the return of a cowardly deserter who clearly expressed his hatred of the country he had previously sworn to serve. In fact, Afghan television network TOLOnews reports that the Taliban-formed government has named Khairullah Khairkhwa, Norullah Noori, Abdul Haq Wasiq, and Mohammad Fazl to key leadership positions in the new government.
The Taliban announced Tuedsay that Khairkhwa will serve as acting minister for information and culture, Noori will serve as acting minister of borders and tribal affairs, Wasiq will serve as acting director of intelligence, and Fazl will serve as deputy defense minister.
These men were known as top leaders within the Taliban when they were captured. They were known as top leaders within the Taliban while they were detained at Guantanamo. And they were known as top leaders within the Taliban when Obama released them in exchange for a traitor.
So, Obama gives the Taliban back four important leaders who now hold top leadership positions in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Then a few years after that exchange, Obama’s former vice president — who is now the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — practically gift-wraps roughly $100 billion in U.S. weapons and hands them to the Taliban to use in taking control of Afghanistan. One has to wonder: If those presidents had tried as hard to win as they appear to have tried to lose, would the Taliban even still exist?
