Cal Thomas - Where does the buck stop?

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, August 19th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Here’s commentator Cal Thomas now on “the buck stops here” versus “passing the buck.”

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: After searing criticism from Democrats and Republicans about how he has mishandled the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, President Biden interrupted his Camp David retreat to return to the White House earlier this week. There he made a speech in which he blamed the Trump administration for the problem.

The only time he came close to admitting culpability for the scenes playing out on American TV screens was when he paraphrased Harry Truman’s iconic line “the buck stops with me.” Except that for Biden, the “buck” never arrives in the Oval Office. Any failure—whether at our southern border, or in Afghanistan—is someone else’s fault.

In his address, the president blamed Afghan forces for not fighting hard enough. What morale and fighting spirit that remained surely evaporated when they realized Biden no longer had their back. Corruption in the Afghan government didn’t help. The Taliban used that to persuade many to come to their side. The consequences for Afghan girls and women will be enormous. Likewise for Afghan interpreters who helped Americans. Reports of Taliban fighters going door to door searching for them does not bode well for their future.

U.S. military leaders recommended at least 2,500 troops remain in Afghanistan, along with support from intelligence personnel and contractors to keep the Taliban at bay. As recently as July 8, Biden twisted their advice, saying, quote—“Our military commanders advised me that once I made the decision to end the war, we needed to move swiftly to conduct the main elements of the drawdown. And in this context, speed is safety.”

Clearly, speed has been the opposite of safety. “Walk, don’t run to the nearest exit” is good advice in a movie theater fire and it should have been our strategy for withdrawal from Afghanistan.

That there was a complete intelligence breakdown is beyond dispute. As recently as June, “intelligence briefings suggested it would be at least a year and a half before Kabul was threatened.” It turned out one weekend was enough.

Afghan troops apparently concluded Biden was not in it to win it.

We need to rethink not only our foreign policy, but how to respond to threats of terrorism in a rapidly changing world. We are still approaching these threats with strategies modeled after World War II.

A quote from former Secretary of State Colin Powell seems relevant: “Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment.”

At the end of his speech, President Biden immediately left the White House without taking questions. He returned immediately to Camp David. It seemed a metaphor for his shameful and rapid retreat from Afghanistan.

Surrender will only encourage our enemies. They see America as increasingly weak, led by a president who appears even weaker.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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