大侠行天下日记 我见我闻我思 08/17

阿富汗失手重创拜登声望

拜登总统今日在告全国人民之谈话中坚持从阿富汗撤军是正确之决定 ，我们已尽全力，但是也要承认塔力班攻陷首都之速度比我们预期快得许多， 在过去廿年来， 我们就如何撒退之决定是非常困难的， 他也指责阿富汗军队之弃械投降而不对塔力班进行对抗， 拜登政府不希望把二十年冗长的战争延续给下任总统， 他也希望他的国安团队找出為什么情报错误让塔利班如何快速取得政权。

五週前拜登总统还矢言，无论如何你们都不会看到有人从美国驻阿富汗大使馆的屋顶上撒离， 并相信塔利班全面控制整个国家的可能性极小。然而今天美国的三军统帅被打脸了， 也许在史册中， 拜登将会载入美国在阿富汗匆忙撒离丢尽顏面的结束这㘯歷史上最长的海外战争。

虽然许多盟友支持美国从阿富汗撤军之决定， 但是塔利班势如破竹的胜利 ，让美国及许多盟国措手不及 ，然而，许多当年效忠美国的当地翻译和其他工作人员并未能如期离开， 他们的命运可能会很悲惨。

阿富汗之失陷正向许多美国的盟邦传达不祥的讯息， 这位老大哥是否可靠而不会在紧急情况撒手不管， 更重创了美国在国际上之形象。

当塔利班首领座上縂统府宝座上时， 我们不禁再回想到二十年前的往事， 阿富汗是否会再变成恐怖分子之温床， 对全球都会构成巨大之威胁。

President Stands ‘Squarely Behind’ His Decision

President Biden addressed the nation saying that he stands ‘squarely behind’ his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan after having a presence for 20 years while admitting that, “The fall of the country to the Taliban did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.” 

The president said that, “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw our U.S. forces.”

Administration officials have blamed the Afghan security forces, maintaining that the U.S. has provided billions of dollars in support, training and equipment to them, but when “push came to shove,” they decided not to step up and fight for their country.

President Biden said, “We gave them every chance to determine their own future, but what we could not provide them with was the will to fight for that future.”

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country without a succession plan and without a deal with the Taliban about the future of the country and without any support.

America’s allies who believed President Biden made the right decision to finally exit a war that the United States could not win and that no longer was in U.S.’s future interests sheds light on two questions: How much political damage has been done to America’s reputation around the world, and how can the U.S. allies be protected by the U.S. when such critical times could erupt in their own countries?

Today when we look back over the last twenty years, we really owe so much to the members of the military and other Americans who put down their lives in foreign lands for our country.