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I've been paying close attention to daily news reports from Afghanistan this past month, as our military personnel risked their lives to organize the evacuation of people who wanted to leave the country.
It reminds me of the situation in Vietnam back in 1975 during the fall of Saigon, the South Vietnamese capitol. I was only in grade school at the time, just old enough to know that it didn't make sense to drop helicopters into the sea.
It was the same sort of humanitarian crisis. Rural people journeyed into the capital, hoping they could escape as a dictatorship was about to take over.
The biggest difference is the type of commentary we get from politicians in Washington D.C., which in 2021 has included a substantial amount of anti-Biden administration rhetoric from Republicans.
I don't recall blame being placed on the Ford administration almost 50 years ago. There was respect and loyalty to the office of the Presidency. People trusted that everything possible was being done, short of going back in to occupy South Vietnam at a high cost of American lives.
I also don't recall any blame being placed on President George W. Bush for the 911 attacks. Political opponents could have chosen to unjustly blame him by saying that our national security efforts lacked leadership.
Instead there was unity after 911. People from the entire political spectrum were united in helping the victims of the attacks and in supporting the mission to make the world a safer place.
It seems as though our country has gone through a very negative transformation since then. In the Trump years the political divisiveness became so severe that now it's difficult to have any unity, even when it comes to dealing with the COVID pandemic or supporting the mission in Afghanistan.
Republicans have for the most part missed an opportunity to unify with the President in a crisis. They once again stirred up their very conservative political base and again provoked resentment among many liberals and moderates.
The other side could respond by blaming former President Trump, who had four years to get it right in Afghanistan. They could claim that he didn't finish the job (out of concern that a Taliban takeover would hurt his re-election chances) and that Biden was left holding the bag after winning in 2020.
I hope that type of counter-blame doesn't occur, that Biden is simply given credit for making a difficult, potentially unpopular decision. We've had too much of each side blaming the other for economic difficulties, racial issues and foreign policy challenges. It's time to stand together.
What's unfolded in Afghanistan does not mean that the 20-year involvement in the Afghan war was a failure. It was part of dealing with international terrorism at its source.
Many steps have been taken to root out leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Sadam Hussein and others who were identified as central figures in the terrorism threat. More has been done to ensure safety at airports, in major cities, and at events such as the recent Tokyo Olympics.
Afghanistan had 20 years to embrace democracy and have it take root in their country. Somehow it didn't happen. There must have been powers-that-be in many parts of the country, such as village elders, who prefer the strict Islamic fundamentalist teachings of the Taliban.
That's a choice for Afghanistan to make. It remains to be seen if the Taliban is different, if they recognize the need to have women's rights and a free press in a changing modern world.
The United States is a very important part of the effort to further democracy in all regions of the globe. It's vital that we demonstrate unity when it comes to freely elected government and that we respect election decisions made by a majority of our voters.
Leadership on a global level requires cooperation from within. It demands commitment to the ideals public officials vow to uphold. It depends on having a shared vision.
-- Jim Muchlinski is a long-time reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent