Joint ownership

From George Bush to Barack Obama to Donald Trump and now Joe Biden, both major political parties own a piece of the car wreck that is Afghanistan.

But the man holding the keys to the car that used to be America's 20-year, multi-trillion-dollar experiment is none other than Donald Trump.

Let's not forget Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Eager to score a foreign policy victory and secure reelection, he set a date for withdrawal, literally giving the Taliban a deferred victory. It wasn't a question of if America was going to admit defeat; only when. He excluded the U.S. supported Afghan government from those talks, sealing its fate and most likely that of the country it struggled to lead.

And to sweeten an already sweet deal, 5,000 Taliban detainees were released. How many of them were able to rearm to be in on the kill of America's experiment? How many of them were able to blend into the departing throngs, and are on the way to new lives and old ways in another country?

Everyone owns a piece of the Afghanistan car wreck. But the heap needs to be towed to Donald Trump's house and parked on his lawn.

John Morello

Plano