1 October 2021 - Afghanistan blame

The Afghanistan blame game is blazing in Washington, and the players are adding fuel. The Pentagon “behind closed doors” says that the State Department left the civilian evacuation until too late. Translating, the soldiers and the diplomats had to coordinate, and (“not that this is anybody’s fault in particular”) the plan did not coordinate them. It is a deflection from the underlying failure, which is that nobody, especially not the intelligence agencies whose job is to fear the worst, foresaw Afghan government resistance going poof--though everybody has seen other collapses, such as the Iraqi army versus ISIS. Congratulations, everyone wins the consternation prize!