Don’t blame Trump for the collapse of Afghanistan. Blame Obama.

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President Joe Bidens’ decision to abruptly withdraw from Afghanistan, without any discernible exit strategy, has plunged that nation into bloody and ruinous chaos. After pleading with the Taliban to spare our embassy in Kabul, he has now redeployed 3,000 troops to conduct a hasty air evacuation of embassy staff.

At this point, the only good that can come out of this debacle is that our leaders might wake up and recognize that the Obama foreign policy doctrine is a dismal failure and must be abandoned once and for all. Tragically, this lesson comes, once again, at a huge cost: widespread human misery and increased threats to American interests.

As we study what happened, let’s get rid of the ducks first: that this fiasco was inevitable and that it was all former President Donald Trump’s fault.

>>> Related: Taliban Capture 3 Major Cities In Afghanistan, Advance On Capital

The reality is that during Trump’s tenure and despite the many imperfections of Afghan governments, Afghanistan had made great strides. The government controlled most of the country’s territory. There has been real economic growth. Women could work. The children could go to school.

In addition, the cost of promoting regional stability by maintaining a stable Afghanistan was quite reasonable. The United States spent less in Afghanistan in a year than we spent in a week. American forces trained and advised Afghan forces. Our troops did not wage war and did not take casualties. It was clearly sustainable.

And how, in heaven’s name, is Trump to blame for Bidens’ disastrous decision to cut and flee? Trump was negotiating with the Taliban, but there was nothing wrong with that. The negotiations were based on conditions and Trump made it clear that the Taliban would be held accountable for their actions.

Additionally, Trump’s team ensured that if, in the end, the Taliban turned out to be untrustworthy, the remaining US force would have been sized and sized to present a serious deterrent to the Taliban and be sufficient to protect American interests.

Trump, in fact, handed Biden a largely resolved problem. All Biden had to do was negotiate a lasting settlement from a position of strength or maintain an economy of presence in Afghanistan if the Taliban failed to deliver on their commitments. Instead, Biden simply decided to stop and call the troops home regardless of what the Taliban did on the ground.

The Taliban offensive should come as no surprise to anyone, given the conditions imposed on it. Why would he not profit from the abandonment of Afghanistan by Bidens? He knew very well that the chances of this president trying to stop his orgy of murder, rape, forced marriages and chaos were almost zero.

Of course, Biden will blame Trump. He will accuse the Taliban. He can make any excuses and tell any story he wants, but a story can’t stop a bullet. It’s a catastrophe. The situation did not collapse until he withdrew his troops and it is impossible not to conclude that this happened because of what he decided.

Here is the biggest problem. It was not a one-off decision. It’s part of an Obama-Biden foreign policy model. And this should come as no surprise since current policies are managed by the same people.

In Iraq, after spending a lot of time and effort in stabilizing the country, former President Barack Obama hastily withdrew US troops. It was like ordering the firefighters who had put out a wildfire not to stay after the wildfire in case the fire rekindled. ISIS multiplied overnight, creating the largest and most powerful terrorist state in modern history.

In Libya, Obama insisted on leading from behind. And once Muammar Gaddafi disappeared from the picture, he ignored the growing decline in the security situation until our diplomatic facilities in Benghazi were smoldering ruins.

This is the Obama-Biden playbook. Get out of dangerous situations and hope all does not go to hell in a hand basket. And when these tender hopes fail to come true? It’s time to find excuses; shift the blame; do something other than fix the problem unless there is absolutely no alternative.

In the face of the enemies of the Americas, the default position of Obama-Biden’s foreign policy by default is accommodation and appeasement. Unfortunately, bad guys aren’t stupid. They’ve had eight years to study Obama’s playbook, and they know what to do with it: exploit deliberate self-debilitation.

Biden is pursuing the exact same foreign policy. Caving in Russia on Nord Stream 2. Refuse to confront China on the origins of COVID-19. To implore Tehran to let the United States return to the Iran nuclear deal.

Nothing good will come of it.

This article first appeared on 19fortyfive.com.

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