Crenshaw Takes On ‘No More Endless Wars’ Crowd: ‘They Prefer To Live In A Dream World’

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) harshly criticized those people including President Biden who have lamented “no more endless wars” regarding Afghanistan. Crenshaw wrote, “They prefer to live in a dream world rather than face the reality that our enemies are ideologically opposed to Western civilization and will gladly stage another 9/11 if they have the opportunity and means.”

Crenshaw began by acknowledging, “Almost everyone agrees that what’s happening in Afghanistan is an unmitigated disaster. There is no way to whitewash it, and few are trying. The scenes from Kabul speak for themselves, casting shame and embarrassment on the world’s greatest superpower.”

“There is plenty of blame being passed around, including to the ‘neocons,’ the generals and the Afghans themselves,” he continued. “But what got us here was the widespread belief that American foreign policy should be dictated by a simple slogan: ‘No more endless wars.’ The current spokesman for that belief is President Biden.”

“Few deny we needed to take action after 9/11, but few understood what our strategy would be after we got there,” Crenshaw pointed out. “Leaders failed to explain that simply leaving would allow the Taliban to re-emerge and again provide safe haven for terrorists.”

“With this growing impatience, the case for cutting our losses grew stronger. But it fails to acknowledge trade-offs—and this simple question: If we evacuate Afghanistan, what will happen?” Crenshaw asked. “The ‘no more endless wars’ crowd always refused to answer. They prefer to live in a dream world rather than face the reality that our enemies are ideologically opposed to Western civilization and will gladly stage another 9/11 if they have the opportunity and means. They are at war with us whether or not we are at war with them. Leaving Afghanistan would inevitably create a terrorist safe haven.”

“The ‘no more endless wars’ position has another blind spot,” Crenshaw surmised. “Its advocates are unable to distinguish between wasteful nation building and a small residual force that conducts occasional counterterror operations. As a result, when many Americans hear that there is a single soldier on the ground in Afghanistan, they interpret it to mean ‘nation building’ and ‘world police.’ That’s wrong. There are a lot of foreign policy options between nation building and giving up.

“The U.S. presence in Afghanistan was meeting the original strategic goal of denying a safe haven for terrorists and preventing another 9/11. The 18 months before withdrawal saw no U.S. combat deaths,” Crenshaw noted. “Does that really sound like ‘endless war’ in any traditional sense? More important, does it sound better or worse than the current outcome?”

He turned to Biden: “Mr. Biden’s decision was reckless and unnecessary. Policy aside, there wasn’t even political pressure to take such thoughtless action. The facts on the ground didn’t warrant a hasty withdrawal, and intelligence predicted the Taliban would eventually take over. Even worse, this decision was made as the spring fighting season began, all but guaranteeing a Taliban offensive emboldened by the knowledge of an imminent U.S. withdrawal and a collapse of morale by our Afghan allies in uniform and in government.”

Crenshaw concluded:

America didn’t lose a war, or even end one. We gave up on a strategic national-security interest. We gave up on our Afghan allies, expecting them to stave off a ruthless insurgency without our crucial support, which came at minimal cost to us. This administration’s actions are heartless, its justifications nonsensical. The consequences are dire for innocent Afghans and for America’s prestige. Twenty years after 9/11, I pray they don’t become equally dire for Americans at home.

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