The Trump administration set in motion the events that led to the current debacle, with a preposterous “peace deal” with the Taliban. The agreement obligated the U.S. to leave by May of this year, although the Taliban obviously negotiated in bad faith and were in violation of the deal from the beginning. It would have taken resolve and finesse for Biden to back out of the deal, but this administration has shown no reluctance to reverse field in other areas, such as Iran or the Paris climate accords. Doing so in Afghanistan would have been much better than abandoning a minimal, sustainable American commitment that kept in place a stalemate that was vastly better than the alternative.

Even if Biden insisted on pulling out, there was no reason to do it this heedlessly and incompetently — in the middle of fighting season and a gathering Taliban offensive, without any alternative U.S. base in the region, without any substitute for U.S. air support or the Americans contractors who kept Afghan planes in the sky, without an orderly process to get out vulnerable Afghans who helped us over the years, and without a plan to secure the airport in Kabul.

The Biden administration prides itself on its alleged professionalism, especially in contrast to its predecessor, but this was rank ineptitude that made the situation much worse for no reason.