It is a soldier’s job to do his or her duty for their country. It is arguably the noblest calling in the world. They don’t get to pick the wars. They serve.

It is a citizen’s job to question their government. Particularly the wars it chooses to fight. Perhaps we didn’t ask enough questions or challenge politicians as forcefully as we should have.

Because what did America actually accomplish in Afghanistan?

For twenty years, the U.S. has fought in that country. Leaders in both parties have told us for two decades we must stay or it would all fall apart and the Taliban would retake control.

Today that war finally ended. The country is falling apart and the Taliban is once again in control.

So what were we there for all that time?

JUST IN: Last US military plane leaves Afghanistan https://t.co/RCGe7rDJV2 pic.twitter.com/bbPZ0sbqIR

— The Hill (@thehill) August 30, 2021

Obviously, the U.S. was justified in going in after 9/11 because the Taliban was harboring the terrorists who attacked us. But we didn’t just go in, accomplish the mission and then leave.

We stayed. We nation built. We bore the costs in not only dollars, but far more importantly, lives.

For what? One is tempted to do a cost/benefit analysis, but to do that there would have to be some benefit. There is none.

If we went in to punish the Taliban, we rewarded them on the way out the door with billions in U.S. military equipment.

Why?

By every metric imaginable, we lost the war in Afghanistan long before anyone, including its supporters, could clearly explain what our mission was there.

American soldiers did their duty and we salute their service and sacrifice. But by seemingly not challenging the government enough, I worry that we citizens let them down.

One thing is clear: Any politician who wants to do that again – and Washington is full of hawkish people eager to do so in both parties – is unfit for office. Because they haven’t learned a single lesson from what has to be one of America’s grandest mistakes.

But we can learn lessons. We must. Doing so might be the only bright spot amongst the darkness left behind.

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FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “The Times of London reports that the US simply abandoned a truly astounding arsenal of military equipment and weapons. This reportedly includes up to 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs. So, too, the list of allegedly abandoned weaponry includes up to 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units. Oh, and the Taliban will likely inherit state-of-the-art military helicopters, warplanes, and other aircraft from the US, too.”

NEW: Here’s the List of Billions in Military Equipment the US Left Behind for the Taliban

Good job with our tax money, government!

My latest ? ? ?https://t.co/P2E0KDU1UH

— Brad Polumbo ?? ?‍? (@brad_polumbo) August 30, 2021

The US sent this equipment to Afghanistan to arm the Afghan security forces/alternative government we unsuccessfully sought to prop up. (That government has now collapsed and the Taliban is retaking control.) While some of our equipment may have been taken with US personnel when they fled Afghanistan, much of it is difficult to transport, and most of it likely remained behind amid a chaotic withdrawal.

As a result, it will eventually fall into Taliban hands, if it hasn’t already.”

Read the entire column here.

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My column in the Gainesville Sun:

“Since the Afghan War began two decades ago, four presidential administrations have worked to bring our troops back home. For years, I’ve supported a strong, strategic withdrawal plan to end America’s longest war, but what we are witnessing is anything but.

In fact, it’s clear that any ‘plans’ or ‘contingencies’ never existed. Surely if they had, we wouldn’t be watching American citizens beaten by the Taliban as they attempt to make their way to the airport in Kabul.

I’m disappointed in this administration. I’m embarrassed by this administration and I think all Americans should be. And if you aren’t, you’re not paying attention.

My latest for @GainesvilleSun below. https://t.co/zoNtFo3ag4

— Congresswoman Kat Cammack (@RepKatCammack) August 29, 2021

In early July, President Joe Biden told the American people that the Taliban presented no credible threat to the United States, our troops, or our allies in the region. Mere weeks after President Biden and top military leaders at the Pentagon told us we were safe, we watched as the Taliban continued its offense across the country, taking more provinces each day, ultimately taking full control within a week…

I’m disappointed in this administration. I’m embarrassed by this administration and I think all Americans should be.”

Read the entire column here.

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We gave the names of Americans and our allies to the Taliban?

WHAT?!?

So you’re telling me we gave the names of Americans and our allies to the Taliban?

The same Taliban with a brutal history of murdering Americans and Afghans?

Disgusting. https://t.co/3LLYzkhEGG

— Congresswoman Kat Cammack (@RepKatCammack) August 26, 2021

“Mutual interests” don’t exist. https://t.co/uMrYYtVXrZ

— Congresswoman Kat Cammack (@RepKatCammack) August 26, 2021

Politico: “U.S. officials in Kabul gave the Taliban a list of names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan allies to grant entry into the militant-controlled outer perimeter of the city’s airport, a choice that’s prompted outrage behind the scenes from lawmakers and military officials.”

“Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list,” said one defense official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. “It’s just appalling and shocking and makes you feel unclean.”

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The government apparently trusts the Taliban with guns more than it trusts you

The Libertarian Party’s Spike Cohen makes a simple but important point.

Why don’t they trust us? ? @RealSpikeCohen pic.twitter.com/G5GE5AtMgZ

— Young Americans for Liberty (@YALiberty) August 24, 2021

And it’s not just guns!

“Video showed the advancing insurgents inspecting long lines of vehicles and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear and even military drones,” Reuters reported.

“Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,’ one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters.”

All in all, the U.S. spent $2 trillion and twenty years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban, only this time they have more U.S.-made weapons than ever before.

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Just saying.

The U.S government spent 20 years and $2T+ to replace the Taliban with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Read that again

— Young Americans for Liberty (@YALiberty) August 23, 2021

The New York Times reported Monday, “Almost 20 years later, the United States did negotiate a deal to end the Afghan war, but the balance of power was entirely different by then — it favored the Taliban”

“For diplomats who had spent years trying to shore up the U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan, the deal that President Donald J. Trump struck with the Taliban in February 2020 to withdraw American troops — an agreement President Biden decided to uphold shortly after taking office this year — felt like a betrayal,” the Times noted.

The report continued, “Now, with the Taliban back in power, some of those diplomats are looking back at a missed chance by the United States, all those years ago, to pursue a Taliban surrender that could have halted America’s longest war in its infancy, or shortened it considerably, sparing many lives.”

“For some veterans of America’s entanglement in Afghanistan, it is hard to imagine that talks with the Taliban in 2001 would have yielded a worse outcome than what the United States ultimately got,” the Times observed.

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Reason’s Eric Boehm writes, “When a group of Taliban fighters stormed the hastily abandoned presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, earlier this week, they carried a powerful symbol of the changing times: American-issued M16 and M4 rifles.”

“It’s not just a propaganda coup,” Boehm continued. “As the Taliban swept into full control of Afghanistan this week, they also claimed a cornucopia of military gear, equipment, and weapons that had been supplied to the Afghan government by the United States. There’s no way to determine how much American military gear has ended up in the hands of Taliban fighters, but the ‘current intelligence assessment was that the Taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including U.S. Humvees, and up to 40 aircraft potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones,’ Reuters reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed U.S. official.”

Boehm added, “The aircraft and drones are probably useless without training and support staff. But the Humvees and small arms are exactly the sorts of things that a new regime could use to impose its will on the people of Afghanistan.”

“After nearly 20 years of fighting, the Taliban that America is leaving behind is almost certainly better-supplied than it was when the U.S. military invaded in October 2001,” Boehm noted.

Read the entire column here.

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The Taliban is on Twitter. Trump isn’t. Big Tech sucks

Enough said.

The Taliban is on Twitter. But President Trump isn’t. ? #BigTechSucks

— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) August 19, 2021

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Our enemies on 9/11 were al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Now both have our weapons

Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace commented on Fox News Thursday about the U.S. weapons that have now ended up in Taliban hands after American troop withdrawal.

“Perhaps we should have taken some of that equipment,” Mace said during an interview. “Perhaps we should have demolished some of that equipment so that it did not get into the hands of terrorists.”

“So they should not be using our arms and munitions, but this is what happens, and this happened with the United States previously – we have not learned these lessons.”

No, we have not learned. Let’s focus on one word Mace said: “previously.”

Because that is key.

Sen. Rand Paul wrote about U.S. weapons ending up in enemy hands in 2019, “Iran, to this day, the military still has some U.S. weapons left over from weapons the U.S. supplied to the shah. In Iraq, some of the weapons we gave the country to fight Iran were still there when we returned to fight Saddam Hussein. In Afghanistan, some of the weapons we gave the mujahedeen to fight the Russians were still there when we returned to fight the Taliban.”

“Proliferating arms in the midst of chaos is a recipe for disaster,” Paul observed.

No one should be surprised Saudi Arabia is giving American-made weapons to al-Qaeda: @RandPaul said US weapons would end up in terrorists’ hands. You should have listened to Rand Paul https://t.co/rltbcdEB8f

— Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) February 6, 2019

Though the details of the situations vary, in the recent past U.S. weapons that have been sold to Saudi Arabia or given to insurgents in Syria have wound up in enemy hands, including al-Qaeda and similar groups.

A 2015 Reuters report noted, and I could cite many reports of the same thing happening but consider this a typical example: “Syrian rebels trained by the United States gave some of their equipment to the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in exchange for safe passage, a U.S. military spokesman said on Friday, the latest blow to a troubled U.S. effort to train local partners to fight Islamic State militants.”

“The rebels surrendered six pick-up trucks and some ammunition, or about one-quarter of their issued equipment,” the report noted.

So… the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan to punish the Taliban for harboring al-Qaeda, the group that attacked the United States on 9/11. America’s explicit military goal was to route the Taliban and stomp out al-Qaeda.

Yet an unavoidable result of twenty years of war is that the U.S. has since armed al-Qaeda inadvertently and now arms the Taliban, however accidentally.

What was the point of the war again?

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The Pentagon has no idea how many weapons have fallen into the hands of the Taliban

This is insane! The Hill reports, “Billions of dollars of U.S. weapons are now in the hands of the Taliban following the quick collapse of Afghan security forces that were trained to use the military equipment.

Among the items seized by the Taliban are Black Hawk helicopters and A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft.

Photos have also circulated of Taliban fighters clutching U.S.-made M4 carbines and M16 rifles instead of their iconic AK-47s. And the militants have been spotted with U.S. Humvees and mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles.”

Securing U.S. assets should have been among the top priorities for DoD prior to announcing the withdrawal from Afghanistan, yet this didn’t happen.

Now the Pentagon has no idea how many weapons have fallen into the hands of the Taliban. Horrifying.https://t.co/LgdqTEWTgD

— Congresswoman Kat Cammack (@RepKatCammack) August 19, 2021

It gets worse: “Between 2003 and 2016, the United States transferred 75,898 vehicles, 599,690 weapons, 162,643 pieces of communications equipment, 208 aircraft, and 16,191 pieces of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment to Afghan forces, according to a 2017 Government Accountability Office report.

From 2017 to 2019, the United States also gave Afghan forces 7,035 machine guns, 4,702 Humvees, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs and 1,394 grenade launchers, among other equipment, according to a report last year from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).”

Read more here.

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