Former Time journal managing editor, former Obama State Division official, and present MSNBC analyst Rick Stengel joined Deadline: White Home on Tuesday to react to President Biden’s newest speech on Afghanistan. Stengel predicted that when the historical past books are written, “individuals will say, yep, he bought us out of there.”
Stengel tried to supply historic analogies for his declare that the last few weeks had been a hit, “On the danger of seeming like an ivory tower professor, I simply wish to put the withdrawal in historic context. This is a disastrous withdrawal: when the British left Afghanistan in 1842, 4,500 troops left Kabul and one Englishman 11 days later arrived in Jalalabad, that was a disastrous evacuation.”
After all, airplanes did not exist in 1842, which means British troops needed to make their manner on foot almost 93 miles to Jalalabad. That wasn’t Stengel’s solely dangerous analogy, “This is one other one: When the British left India in 1947, 1948, simply pulled out. Over the subsequent few years, two million individuals died as that nation was divided in half. When the French left Algeria in 1962, a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals died, together with hundreds and hundreds of Frenchmen, and that nation continues to be not healed. These are disastrous withdrawals.
The British left as a colonial energy, not a navy ally who left their native allies and personal residents to the whims of a brutal enemy. As for France in Algeria, simply because it was not the worst-case situation, doesn’t suggest it was a hit, however that did not cease Stengel praising Biden for clearing the bottom of bars, “We do not know what the extent of a very disastrous withdrawal would have been. The counterfactuals are simply immense. I imply I feel when that is appeared again on, individuals will say, yep, he bought us out of there. A horrible tragedy that 13 American servicemen and girls died. We bought 100,000 individuals out.”
For one remaining analogy, Stengel introduced up Saigon, “After we left Vietnam in 1975, you could possibly argue that each member, each member, each citizen of South Vietnam labored for the Individuals throughout that conflict and we took a few thousand individuals out. We left whereas we had been being fired upon by the enemy. , the nation was taken over. So these are disastrous withdrawals. I simply needed to place that in perspective.”
Stengel concluded by unconvincingly claiming, “I am not exonerating or explaining away what occurred. However that is just a few historic perspective.” The reality is the failure to anticipate the Taliban’s speedy advance on Kabul led to a state of affairs the place individuals amassed outdoors the airport, offering a possibility for the IS-Ok suicide bomber to kill 13 American servicemembers and scores of Afghan civilians. Historic analogies, and never superb ones at that, do not change that.
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Here’s a transcript of the August 31show:
MSNBC
Deadline: White Home
4:27 PM ET
NICOLLE WALLACE: I might like your response to Jake, your response to Paul and to Helene’s reporting. Take your time.
RICK STENGEL: Yeah. On the danger of seeming like an ivory tower professor, I simply wish to put the withdrawal in historic context. This is a disastrous withdrawal: when the British left Afghanistan in 1842, 4,500 troops left Kabul and one Englishman 11 days later arrived in Jalalabad, that was a disastrous evacuation. This is one other one: When the British left India in 1947, 1948, simply pulled out. Over the subsequent few years, 2 million individuals died as that nation was divided in half. When the French left Algeria in 1962, a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals died, together with hundreds and hundreds of Frenchmen, and that nation continues to be not healed. These are disastrous withdrawals. We do not know what the extent of a very disastrous withdrawal would have been. The counterfactuals are simply immense. I imply I feel when that is appeared again on, individuals will say, yep, he bought us out of there. A horrible tragedy that 13 American servicemen and girls died. We bought 100,000 individuals out. After we left Vietnam in 1975, you could possibly argue that each member, each member, each citizen of South Vietnam labored for the Individuals throughout that conflict and we took a few thousand individuals out. We left whereas we had been being fired upon by the enemy. , the nation was taken over. So these are disastrous withdrawals. I simply needed to place that in perspective. I am not exonerating or explaining away what occurred. However that is just a few historic perspective.
