MSNBC military analyst, Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey obliterated the admittedly fine line between being realistic and being defeatist on Friday's Stephanie Ruhle Reports where he asserted there is "nothing" we can do for those who fought beside us for 20 years.
Ruhle reported that "there are reports that the Taliban is going house for house looking for former Afghan soldiers and security forces and their families" and asked McCaffrey, "Is there anything more that we can or should do to protect them?"
McCaffrey declared, "Nothing. We have no leverage left in Afghanistan. We're not going to re-enter the country, we're not going to expand the footprint out of the Kabul airport. What, fight our way downtown? A lot of the discussions are really nonsensical."
That is simply not true. The British, French, and Germans have sent their forces out of the airport to rescue their citizens and some Afghans as well. On Thursday, it was reported that U.S. and allied forces rescued a wounded Afghan veteran and his family from Kabul.
President Biden's views on Afghanistan are not exactly a well kept secret. He opposed the surge when he was VP, but McCaffrey still found a way to blame the situation on former President Trump: "It got triggered by President Biden's decision to evacuate all U.S. Military, a decision I believe was set up solely by Trump's farcical peace treaty."
Biden was going to order a withdrawal regardless of what Trump did. For his part, McCaffrey concluded by reiterating, "We have no leverage. Except some money, we have some of their funds in hand. But the Taliban will look to Pakistan and China primarily for support going forward."
Granted, the situation in Afghanistan is very complicated and dangerous, but it has been demonstrated that it is possible to get at least some of those who fought along side us out. All that's needed is the will, the will that McCaffrey is not alone in lacking when it comes to media experts.
This embrace of defeatism was sponsored by Sleep Number. Their contact information is linked.
Here is a transcript for the August 20 show:
MSNBC
Stephanie Ruhle Reports
9:11 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: General, earlier this week there were all sorts of questions around why didn't the Afghan military, the soldiers fight back harder against the Taliban. But now there are reports that the Taliban is going house for house looking for former Afghan soldiers and security forces and their families. Is there anything more that we can or should do to protect them?
BARRY MCCAFFREY: Nothing. We have no leverage left in Afghanistan. We're not going to re-enter the country, we're not going to expand the footprint out of the Kabul airport. What fight our way downtown? A lot of the discussions are really nonsensical. I think what is the case is that the Taliban had a better political message, they were even Northern Alliance areas of Afghanistan and gained acquiesce that they were moving in. It got triggered by President Biden's decision to evacuate all U.S. Military, a decision I believe was set up solely by Trump's farcical peace treaty. However this is what is now playing out. And it is going to be a tragic scene. The Taliban are much smarter than they were 20 years ago, so they will probably keep the optics in Kabul less brutal than will eventually be imposed upon all the 40 million people of Afghanistan. Girls, women, it is all over. We have no leverage. Except some money, we have some of their funds in hand. But the Taliban will look to Pakistan and China primarily for support going forward.
