Yesterday in Kabul thirteen American soldiers were killed along with at least 72 Afghan civilians as a massive airlift continued nonstop to meet the August 31st. deadline for leaving Afghanistan. According to a Reuters News report filed this morning more than 105,000 people were evacuated in the past 12 days while a group known as ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the carnage at the airport. Military leaders and other national security experts say the attacks were not totally unexpected since others had been thwarted in recent days. President Biden expressed his sorrow for the loved ones of all those killed in remarks at a press conference yesterday afternoon but warned again that the rescue mission in Afghanistan continues to be a dangerous one.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”— Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Holy Bible,(KJV)
Yesterday was a time to lose…too much.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
I find it all devastating. I’m even starting to question why we left. I know that most everybody thinks we had to leave, but if 2,500 troops kept the whole place from falling apart, I am considering that it was worth it because of all the women and girls and then the men who don’t want to be part of sharia law. For our own interests, to keep terrorism from having a base from which to infiltrate our country and attack. And for the sake of the other nationalities who have similar aims. I know that this is a very unpopular position, to think we should have stayed there, but I am starting to think we were all wrong. This is all hindsight, of course, because I am only thinking this after seeing how quickly everything fell apart. Sorry for venting on your post, my dear!
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Luanne, you are always welcome to “vent” here. It’s a safe space for expressing what you’re feeling. This is such a tragic situation, and I don’t pretend to have any answers. In my post “the ides of August” I gave a link to an article I thought was excellent. Written by a woman who had been in the Peace Corps when she got out of college, then a journalist (one of the posts was in Afghanistan for NPR), and then went back to live in Kandahar for another 10 years to work for ngo’s. She was thorough about the complexities of our relationships in Afghanistan and I felt a bit more educated.
I don’t know whether we should have removed the troops or not. I also had the feeling of why not just leave them over there if that was a stabilizing force. But then, who knows the Monday morning quarterback positions?
I see no good answers anywhere. But I do appreciate your comments- always.
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OK, I will read it! Thank you! Ugh, first Izzie, then Felix, Pear fading, and now THIS :(.
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I understand your feelings.
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