LETTER: Military men and women know Afghanistan withdrawal was botched
In his Sept. 2 letter, Alex Berk is under the impression that our great servicemen and women are upset at the ending of our 20 years of fighting in Afghanistan. Nothing could be further from the truth. The problem wasn’t the withdrawal. The problem was how it was handled.
Leaving civilians behind while withdrawing their protection first is the problem. Anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to send the troops out before getting the unprotected out isn’t thinking any too well. The military should have been the last to go and everyone should have known that. That is what irks our veterans and soldiers who fought to protect those people.
As for what Donald Trump would have done, he laid it out clearly: No assaults on our troops or civilians until we are gone or there will be retaliation — and he meant that. This, I believe, would not have happened on his watch. And the Taliban would not have billions of dollars of our military arms and munitions to use against us in the future.
This whole thing was nothing more than a botched exit by an inept administration. Period.