WASHINGTON — Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turns out to be the Taliban.
The U.S. spent $83 billion building and training Afghanistan forces.
But the Taliban marched through the country in a matter of days.
The Taliban captured modern U.S.-supplied military equipment when overrunning Afghan forces who failed to defend district centers.
That was followed by even bigger gains, including aircraft, when they rolled up provincial capitals with stunning speed, topped by capturing the biggest prize, Kabul, over the weekend.
President Joe Biden stood by his decision to leave the country Monday.
“It is wrong to ask American troops to step up when Afghanistan’s own armed forces would not," Biden stated.
Biden blamed former President Donald Trump for making a deal with the Taliban. Biden added that the Taliban was at its strongest since 2001, and he would have been forced to send U.S. troops into combat missions if they were to stay longer.
"There was only a cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan. Lurching into the third decade of conflict," Biden
said.