George W. Bush calls Afghan troop withdrawal "a mistake"
By: CBSNews 4 hrs ago (MSN)
And he comes back out finally
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Former President George W. Bush on Wednesday criticized the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan and said civilians were being left to be "slaughtered" by the Taliban.
© Gerald Herbert / AP Walker Cup Golf
"Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. This is a mistake. ... They're just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks my heart," Mr. Bush told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
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The former Republican president, who sent troops to Afghanistan in the autumn of 2001 after the September 11 attacks, said he believed German Chancellor Angela Merkel "feels the same way."
Mr. Bush said Merkel, who is set to retire from politics later this year after 16 years in power, had brought "class and dignity to a very important position and made very hard decisions".
U.S. and NATO forces began withdrawing from Afghanistan in early May and are due to completely pull out by September 11, some 20 years after they arrived in the war-torn country.
Most of the 2,500 U.S. and 7,500 NATO troops who were in Afghanistan when President Joe Biden detailed the final withdrawal in April have now gone, leaving Afghan troops to fight an emboldened Taliban seemingly bent on a military victory.
The country is facing a crisis as the insurgents snap up territory across the countryside, stretching government forces and leading to a fresh wave of internally displaced families, complicated by a renewed outbreak of COVID-19.
The United Nations said on Sunday the rising conflict is causing "more suffering" across the violence-wracked country, and called for continuous financial aid.
Mr. Biden has insisted, however, that it is time for U.S. involvement in the war to end and for Afghans to chart their own future.
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He is pretty well on the mark but what a catch 22 this is.
Gee George...You were the fucking idiot that started the whole sorry mess.
This was going to happen no matter how long we stayed there
Have you no shame?
The CPAC idea of the day, back then, was a permanent Middle Eastern base on which to launch strikes against Iran from. Yeah... I said then it was a dumb idea, and conservative internet trolls called me a terrorist sympathizer.
It's a shame we couldn't change things there but that's the way it is. We never had full control over the country and for 99% of the women nothing had changed. The US backed Government was just a figurehead, the people were still ruled by their tribal and religious leaders and the government interfered as little as possible out of fear they would support the Taliban if they were unhappy with the government. We couldn't stay forever and we weren't doing any good anyway so it's time to leave. Hopefully we have enough CIA informants in the country to alert us of anything we need to worry about.
Imagine that... our military leaves and shit hits the fan. Who'd have thought such a thing? Of course, I thought G.W. didn't make the right call in the first place, in the very least sending as many troops there... hell, let's be real, I didn't think G.W. made very many good calls overall.
I tend to agree. Going to Afghanistan to get Bin Laden may have been the right move at the time. But once he was taken out, that's when we should have left.
Agreed.
20 years countless lives (on all sides including civilian) trillions of dollars and what is there to show for this disaster, nothing.
The architect of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars was Rumsfeld and Cheney along with Bush.
They all have a lot of blood on their hands.