The most striking thing about the collapse of the Kabul government isn’t so much that it fell, but the almost impossible speed at which it fell.

When South Vietnam fell, the North Vietnamese were backed by the military and material might of Soviet Russia, Red China, the Eastern Bloc states, Cuba and various and sundry other communist regimes worldwide. The North Vietnamese army entered Saigon in Soviet-manufactured tanks backed by Czechoslovakian artillery, carrying Chinese rifles and RPGs.

The Taliban is backed by no nation with the limited acceptation of patrons in Pakistan. Yet it appears from video coming out that they managed to seize a world capital with nothing but pickup trucks and the scooters that look for all the world like those that are rented out to tourists in Old Orchard Beach.

The 20 years spent playing pretend that the regime in Kabul was anything but a sham is now obvious to even the most delusional believer in “nation building.” The emperor had no clothes.

The army that the U.S. spent billions training and equipping ran away or switched sides instantly. No resistance was offered. Afghanistan was a 20-year blunder.

Credit Donald Trump, the former president, and Joe Biden, the current president, with ending the play acting.

Jeremy Smith
Old Orchard Beach