Where The Buck Stops (And No Apologies).

By Zamboni

After 20 years and nearly 3,000 American military casualties, one of the most depressing things about Afghanistan continues to be the corruption. And not just on the part of the Afghan government(s) we were trying to establish and then prop up. Yes, former president Ashraf Ghani escaped with millions — but aside from him, the only other winners in this conflict were the American contractors. We cats fail to understand why our men and women in uniform should die so that Erik Prince can become rich.

We happen to have been very busy across the border in Canada this week — after 17 months, arriving at our Montreal digs was like excavating King Tut's tomb. So we haven't been spending a lot of time watching cable news. Good thing, too, because from what we can tell, the talking heads went way overboard on the Afghanistan withdrawal. Only now are they starting to pull back a bit — noting, even, that the Trumpsters are desperately trying to put daylight between themselves and Benedict Donald's coddling of the Taliban. But of course, they'll never apologize or issue corrections. The alliteration of "Biden's blunder" was too tempting a chyron to resist.

Meanwhile, what are we left with? Well, a couple of things: The airlift out of Kabul will last a while, so we all might as well buckle in, sit back, and hope it continues smoothly. It'll probably last beyond the Administration's cited deadline of August 31, and if there's one thing we've learned about Team Biden, they're adept at pivoting when necessary. Second, the polls are with the President. Heck, most Americans are sick of the war and can't even find Afghanistan on a map — but even so, we'd like to think that at the same time, they'd do their best to welcome any Afghan refugees to the US.

Third, don't assume that the people of Afghanistan will submit quietly. Already there are signs they won't. "Struggling to govern" is probably not a headline the Taliban would like to see.

Finally, we watched Biden's speech online last night for the first time. It was Trumanesque, and we were impressed. Some lefties complained that it "lacked contrition or humility." GOOD. Namby-pamby hand wringing is just the sort of thing American voters have rightfully punished Democrats for in the past. We cats PURR.