Adding to our moral imperative in Afghanistan is the fact that two of the rationale often cited in support of Biden's manner of withdrawal—the corruption of the Afghan government and the unpreparedness of its armed forces—were not inherent character flaws of the Afghan people.
Rather, these were the predictable outcomes of decisions made by the American occupying force: First, the decision to tolerate corruption at the highest levels of the Afghan government while continuing to pump money in. And second, the training of their armed forces as a "force multiplier" highly dependent on American air support and contractors, instead of as a stand-alone military with any chance of surviving once the Americans were gone.
Thank you for elucidating the moral imperative that Jonathan Rauch dismissed.
Adding to our moral imperative in Afghanistan is the fact that two of the rationale often cited in support of Biden's manner of withdrawal—the corruption of the Afghan government and the unpreparedness of its armed forces—were not inherent character flaws of the Afghan people.
Rather, these were the predictable outcomes of decisions made by the American occupying force: First, the decision to tolerate corruption at the highest levels of the Afghan government while continuing to pump money in. And second, the training of their armed forces as a "force multiplier" highly dependent on American air support and contractors, instead of as a stand-alone military with any chance of surviving once the Americans were gone.