Kustra’s misunderstanding of Trump’s Afghan pullout colors his misunderstanding of Ukraine war.

 

Kustra’s misunderstanding of Trump’s Afghan pullout colors his misunderstanding of Ukraine war.

Bob Kustra’s Chicago Tribune op-ed “Donald Trump caved to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Will he repeat in the Russia-Ukraine talks?” deserves comment.

Kustra claims Trump’s 2020 Doha Agreement with the Afghan Taliban that ended the US war there under Biden in 2021 “guaranteed US failure in Afghanistan, paving the way for the ignominious Afghanistan pullout and the harsh and absolute rule of the Taliban to follow.”

To the contrary, Trump’s Doha Agreement paved the way to end America’s senseless, 20 year lost war in Afghanistan in which 2,382 US soldiers were killed and tens of thousands injured. Kustra calls the war “unsuccessful” when he should have deemed it illegal, immoral and criminal.

Kustra laments Trump excluded the Afghan government from the peace talks when that move was crucial to ending the war. The Afghan government was a US puppet regime that had near zero credibility and support among Afghanistan’s 44 million citizens. Trump negotiated the scheduled May, 2021 withdrawal with the Taliban who never ceased being the de facto Afghan government.

Kustra further agonizes that Doha “paved the way for the ignominious Afghanistan pullout and the harsh and absolute rule of the Taliban to follow.”

Kustra implies that the war could have been won on American’s terms and maybe even worth another 20 years and another 2 trillion dollars.

Kustra’s compliant that the Afghan pullout was chaotic ignores the reality that no withdrawal from a lost war zone goes swimmingly. Kustra missed the irony his piece was published a day after the 50th anniversary of America’s calamitous withdrawal from Saigon ending the similarly lost 16 yearlong Vietnam War.

Kustra’s revisionism of Trump’s single foreign policy peace accomplishment furthers his claim a similar catastrophe is occurring with his Ukraine peace initiative. Again, what is Kustra seeking to accomplish? Another 100,000 dead and wounded Ukrainian soldiers? Another 45,000 square miles lost to Russia? Another $175 billion in US treasure squandered furthering Ukraine’s destruction? Another 3 years of failure?

Trump’s erratic, intemperate nature may yet derail his stated goal of ending America’s senseless proxy war against Russia killing only Ukraine proxies. But instead of brickbats, Trump deserves our support and encouragement, including that of Bob Kustra and the Chicago Tribune.