A ‘Pitiful, Helpless Giant’ in Afghanistan Time for a NATO military operation to rescue those trapped behind Taliban lines.
“A nation that hesitates to rescue its people for fear of the Taliban is behaving like a pitiful, helpless giant.”
President Biden provided an update Friday on the emergency evacuation effort in Kabul, and as usual he was his own worst advocate. The President’s optimistic view doesn’t fit the chaos on the ground or the fact that the mission continues to be hostage to the goodwill of the Taliban.
“We’ve made significant progress,” Mr. Biden said, taking credit for “one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history.” If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was describing a humanitarian airlift in Haiti rather than the desperate rescue of Americans trapped behind enemy lines.
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It’s good news that U.S. troops finally control the Kabul airport and its single runway, though that’s all the allies control. It’s also good that 18,000 people have been evacuated since the Taliban took control of the capital. But the U.S. still doesn’t know how many Americans are in the country, and the U.S. Embassy warned this week that “the United States government cannot ensure safe passage to the Hamid Karzai International Airport.”
Mr. Biden said Friday that “we’re in constant contact with the Taliban,” who he says are letting Americans with passports through their checkpoints. But it’s distressing to hear a Commander in Chief admit that he’s relying on the promises of jihadists who have spent years killing Americans. Mr. Biden even suggested they’ll let Americans pass because, well, they need to make a good impression on the world community. Lovely.
The situation is worse for the thousands of Afghans who have applied for entry to the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program. Including families, they total 50,000 or more. Mr. Biden vowed to evacuate them as well, as a matter of national honor.
But the Taliban have set up checkpoints throughout Kabul, making it difficult or impossible for some to reach the airport. Americans and Afghans trapped in other provinces face an even more daunting journey. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, asked Wednesday whether the U.S. could rescue Americans who can’t reach the airport, replied, “I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul.” What an extraordinary expression of American helplessness.
Some of America’s European allies have taken a less defeatist approach. Elite French police units left the airport and rescued their citizens and Afghans from the French embassy. Media reports say British troops left the airport as well, and two German helicopters will be arriving in the country this weekend to assist with evacuations.
Mr. Biden boasted Friday about the U.S. coordination with these NATO countries, though our sources say there is much frustration over U.S. risk-aversion. If Mr. Biden believes what he says, he should organize a joint military operation to go beyond the airport and get people out. It isn’t clear that the U.S. can complete a rapid and successful evacuation of foreigners and loyal Afghans without an aggressive military component.
Joint NATO forces can expand the airport perimeter and create a corridor into Kabul city with more points of access to the airport for Americans, NATO nationals and Afghan SIV candidates. Special forces can conduct rescue missions in difficult to reach areas. The U.S. can establish military hubs outside the airport and around the country where evacuees can assemble for transport. Why should the U.S. and its allies limit themselves to the Kabul airport, which the Taliban could cripple by bombing the runway?
Such a joint military operation would send a message of resolve to the Taliban and evacuate people on U.S. terms, not the Taliban’s. The alternative is to remain captive to Taliban forbearance, which could end at any time.
Such an operation is risky, and on Friday Mr. Biden spoke about the risks of unspecified “unintended consequences.” That tells the Taliban they’re in charge. Mr. Biden no doubt fears the Taliban will take foreign hostages. But trapped Americans and allies are already de facto prisoners. If Secretary Austin needs more troops, then send them in. If Mr. Biden refuses, Mr. Austin should resign over not getting the force to fulfill his mission. The U.S. has enough combat brigades to do the job.
In 1970, in explaining a military offensive in Cambodia, Richard Nixon put the stakes this way: “If, when the chips are down, the world’s most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world.”
A nation that hesitates to rescue its people for fear of the Taliban is behaving like a pitiful, helpless giant.
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