Liberal Media: History Will Look Back on Kabul Chaos as a ‘Very Dark Period’

While many Americans have been able to get to the airport (though there have been reports of physical violence against some), a spokesman for the Taliban said on Tuesday that Afghans will no longer be allowed to leave the country. That has raised concerns that the U.S. will be unable to extract those Afghans who helped the Americans during the war, thus leaving them to an uncertain fate.

“On a tactical standpoint,” said Engel, “sticking to the August 31st deadline makes a lot of sense here in Kabul because if you lose the Taliban’s cooperation, the Taliban could… just unleash people toward the airport, stop cooperating completely, overwhelm the Americans’ process, have that process breakdown.”

He then pointed out that the original name for the U.S. operation that started in 2001 added some tragic irony to the situation.

“But then if you step back and look at what is going on, this is the United States after 20 years,” Engel said. “This war used to be called Operation Enduring Freedom, and it’s turned out not to be enduring and they’re not leaving behind a society that is free. It is only free according to what the Taliban says.”

Engel added, “You can look at this as a tremendously humiliating — a moment of American humiliation, leaving, forced to leave on the Taliban’s clock and with the Taliban’s good graces. So, tactically it makes sense but I’m not sure how history — I think history will judge this moment as a very dark period for the United States.”