Tipsheet

Why the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Ripped Biden in This Damning Report

The final report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction is a brutal one, not least because it details the funds wasted in this quagmire. Initially, yes, al-Qaeda operatives were training there. We had to blow those camps up, get bin Laden, and degrade their capabilities. 

The problem, in hindsight, was that this region of the world, the graveyard of empires, had zero grasp of or history with liberal democratic principles. Our hubris led us to believe that a U.S. military presence, along with those in ISAF, could facilitate the flourishing of democracy. It didn’t help that the 2009 elections were riddled with shameless fraud. It didn’t work in Afghanistan, and we took our eye off the ball here when we invaded Iraq in 2003.  

It's a mess. It’s our longest war, and it ended with our ignominious exit in 2021, along with the Taliban returning to power. So, yeah, there’s a lot to unpack here. It didn’t help that Joe Biden, a longtime skeptic of the Afghan war, was quarterbacking it. 

The report torments the former president for highlighting the Afghan National Army’s capabilities. They did not have 300,000 troops mobilized. It was maybe 40-50,000. The rest were “ghosts.” The Biden team also spent $14.2 billion to resettle some 75,000 unvetted Afghan nationals. It also detailed the amount of military equipment left behind. In keeping with Joe Biden being an absolute moron and laughably wrong on all things related to foreign affairs, it’s fitting that this would happen on his watch. Joe left quite a gift to the Taliban:

You can read the full report here.