Monday on MSNBC’s All In, Rep. Barbara Lee conceded that while she supported President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, “the planning and the movement toward where we are today I don’t think was well-thought-out and well-planned.”
“We cannot nation-build,” Lee said. “This was a 20-year war, the longest war in American history. Whether you agreed or not with the use of force three days after the horrific attacks, the mission was accomplished years ago, in terms of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. And I think the president was absolutely correct in putting it in the historical context for why he made his decision, which I think was the correct decision.”
Um, the decision to leave Afghanistan was made by former President Trump. Biden’s decision was to abandon the plan Trump had in place and initiate a chaotic, thoughtless exit that is now widely considered, even by many on the left, as an epic foreign policy failure.
“But the planning and the movement toward where we are today I don’t think was well-thought-out and well-planned,” Lee continued. “And so, we have to do more. And so, I think we need to learn the lessons of the last 20 years and just know and recognize that we can’t go out throughout the world and nation-build. We have many, many issues that we must address in terms of global peace and security and recognize that military action is not going to solve the world’s problems.”
Besides, we have to make sure our military is focused on combating white supremacy at home and climate change abroad.