WASHINGTON, D.C. Aug. 16 (DPI) – Comment boards on major American news sites reflected a sudden shift in public opinion this week: After years of lamenting and opposing the US military presence in Afghanistan, American readers have declared that the collapse of the ancient country of 36 million to 80,000 Taliban fighters requires a new martial attitude.

Of course it’s more complicated than that – comment boards saw a range of reactions – but the overall tone was a sense of abject failure, and a sense that the fall of Kabul was a replay of the fall of Saigon in 1975.

One popular comment on NYTimes.com yesterday, before the fall of Kabul:

It seems likely the Taliban will soon take over all of Afghanistan. The strong likelihood is that the government of the Taliban will be brutal, almost beyond belief. Women in particular will suffer. The United States did everything it could to prevent this outcome. We spent trillions of dollars (in spite of great needs at home) and thousands of American lives. Far more Afghani lives, mostly civilians, were also lost. Yet, we made virtually no progress. We could not extend our longest war, and allow more to die, and more money to be wasted. The current situation is tragic beyond belief, but it was time for us to end most of our role in the conflict. We should allow those Afghans who helped us to seek asylum in this country, and accommodate as many refugees as we can. But we are already under great pressure from migration at our southern border, and there is only so much this nation can do. It is important that we ask: after all we did, why was our failure so great? Is the Taliban receiving military aid from other countries, and if so which countries, and what is the extend of the aid? Was a fundamental cause corruption of the government we supported? Do most Afghan citizens, particularly outside Kabul, support the Taliban over American assistance, and why? Is this because of the the long standing culture of the country? One cannot nation-build, or support a government, without the support of the majority of the population.

This is deja vu all over again. Leaving and abandoning one’s country rather than facing the possible prospect of being killed and jailed or just fear itself is the most dreaded consequential decision one can make. In 1975, after the fall of Saigon, hundreds of thousands Vietnamese fled South Vietnam. Tens of thousands perished in the vast ocean. Men were killed. Women were raped. Those who died were thrown overboard. Millions of lives were changed forever because of decisions made thousands of miles from their home. The Afghanis, just like the South Vietnamese half a century before, what did they do to deserve this fate?

This is media running defense for team Biden / Democrats. At every opportunity, Democrats claim that Trump was incompetent. However, the one major policy they didn’t try to reverse is the withdrawal from Afghanistan, despite ample opportunity to do so based on Taliban violations of the withdrawal agreement. At every opportunity Democrats felt the opportunity to change foreign policy: Enthusiasm to reenter the Iran deal. Less support for allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia. A different tone with Israel. Tougher on Russia. Etc. How did team Biden process contradictory intelligence regarding the capabilities of the Afghan government and specifically what the Afghan government itself was saying? Now Biden claims disingenuously that he couldn’t change the situation in Afghanistan because of Trump. Media parrot these claims without the skepticism, criticism and normal journalism standards that this falsehood deserves.