Troubled Times In Kabul

“In persons grafted in a serious trust, negligence is a crime.” -Shakespeare

The attack hit hard like betrayal, as I replayed the events over in my head while I readied for a day of innocuous toil at work. We had been standing in the office and listening to the reports coming in hot off the wire that a suicide bombing, followed by an assault by hoary gunmen killed 13 U.S. Service members and maimed over 15. The nation gasped; some wept, but everyone felt it, the biliousness from the horrifying set of circumstances that was unfortunately not unexpected. Hours had passed since the early reports that as many as four soldiers had been slain, and still, an uncomfortable silence hung over the White House. The befuddled President of the United States, Joe Biden, was nowhere to be seen. This did not go unnoticed, in the U.S. or around the world. His incompetence has proven dangerous. A Taliban suicide bomber detonates a munition outside of the airport in Kabul that should have been absolutely secure. Then another explosion is heard near the Baron Hotel. Eyewitnesses on the ground say there could be more victims and chatter over the wire from the Taliban indicate another wave of attacks are imminent at the airport in the hours and days to come.

Just last week Afghanistan once again, after twenty years, fell into the hands of the Taliban with the feckless decision to prematurely exit the country proving to be a gruesome mistake. Some say upwards of 1,000 or more American citizens are stranded now and fears are that they will be written off as superfluous casualties of doing political business. This goes too for the foreign citizens of allied countries unlucky enough to still be in the country. World leaders voice outrage at the dire situation that grows worse by the hour. British Lawmakers express anger over President Biden’s decision-making. One trapped American messaging to family in the states said, “I think we are trapped.”

The Taliban’s Senior commander Waheedullah Hashimi told Reuters that, “Afghanistan would not be a democracy and the new government may take the form of a ruling council, with the group’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada in overall charge.”

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Taliban are conducting door-to-door searches, like the Nazis collecting the Jews for extermination. Those in opposition are beheaded, stoned, or relieved of a limb to live their lives a cripple. The horrors and war crimes are as real as the cold beer and scalding pizza being consumed while the news broadcasts roll.

Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina, and other government representatives demand Biden’s resignation after the word of the massacre began filling the news reports across the world. Islamic State claimed responsibility in a report posted by its Amaq news agency.

The tragedy could have been avoided. Government officials ignored threats that the airport was to be targeted for an attack. They were warned not to pull out of the country too quickly, but Biden demanded it. The future of the country looks grim. The lives of thousands still hanging in limbo. There is nothing good that can come of this. 20 years, 2,376 + the 13, 2,388 American lives lost since 2000 when the war began. And don’t forget the 20,066 that have been wounded. There is no part of America that has not been touched by the war. You also have the 241,000 other people killed in the Afghanistan and Pakistan war zones.

What is it all worth in the end? To the families of the fallen, that day will be the worst day of their lives. There is no coming back from that. There is no sugar-coating this tragedy. The Afghan Army has been useless throughout this two-decade campaign. The American soldiers didn’t die for nothing. They died fighting for the men and women beside them in the mud and snow, broken cities, frozen deserts, and bug-infested bosky and moss-covered floor forests. They died defending the lives of their brothers and sisters at arms, caught under fire, never thinking twice about putting themselves in harm’s way. And then horror and death are brought upon them by the signatures of lizard-slimy politicians hiding safely in impregnable bowels of the White House.

Then to make matters even more bizarre, the administration provided the Taliban with the names of all American citizens, people with green cards, and Afghan supporters of the United States currently hiding in Kabul for their lives, desperate to remain anonymous so they can get home to their families. The Taliban and Islamic State are known for swift executions of anyone that opposes their nightmare regime. We sit and wait to see what will happen to the trapped citizens desperate to escape. The smoke is still rising over the vacant streets, and the smell of fear is everywhere. Sporadic gunfire erupts in the distance. The scuffling of surreptitious feet of refugees can be heard searching like mice in a maze for a way out of the danger.

The infrastructure has collapsed, and nighttime is dark, desolate, and empty of hope. Death is everywhere. Destruction is normal. People are finding it difficult to locate fresh water. Electricity can be found here and there. Food shortages, anger, frustration, desperation, regression, and barbarianism have turned the people against each other.

Biden stood at the pulpit talking about something, but I don’t remember what. The whole scene was a hard act to buy. I felt nauseous thinking about those soldiers torn to pieces by the white-hot metal and fire. I felt sad for the parents, siblings, and children who lost someone so special to them. I said a quiet prayer for all the victims.

Around the country, frightened and furious Americans scream for Biden’s removal from office for his lack of leadership. For those in the military stationed around Afghanistan, they must be reeling from a foreboding notion that their government has been systematically trying to destroy their spirit and morale because that is what it feels like back home.