{"id":666304,"date":"2021-08-20T16:36:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T20:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=666304"},"modified":"2021-08-20T16:36:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T20:36:31","slug":"opinion-the-deadly-failure-of-bidens-sunk-cost-withdrawal-from-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opinion-the-deadly-failure-of-bidens-sunk-cost-withdrawal-from-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: The Deadly Failure Of Biden\u2019s \u2018Sunk Cost\u2019 Withdrawal From Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fopinion-the-deadly-failure-of-bidens-sunk-cost-withdrawal-from-afghanistan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=666304&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234749962-e1629475735365.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>In the field of economics, a \u201csunk cost\u201d is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. It\u2019s spent. Gone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The \u201csunk cost fallacy\u201d is a logical fallacy based on \u201csunk cost,\u201d in which people continue with an endeavor after an investment has already been made. Whether the cost comes in the form of money, time, or other resources, people will carry on solely because of the \u201camount\u201d already invested. \u201cI can\u2019t walk away from this Blackjack game! I\u2019ve already lost thousands!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the context of the war in Afghanistan, the \u201csunk cost fallacy\u201d would be demonstrated by an unwillingness to withdraw based entirely on the resources and lives already lost. \u201cWe can\u2019t leave, because we\u2019ve already spent billions of dollars and lost thousands of lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, the argument being promoted by the Biden administration regarding the withdrawal from Afghanistan is equally fallacious.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHow many more generations of America\u2019s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghans \u2014 Afghanistan\u2019s civil war when Afghan troops will not?\u201d Biden asked during his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2021\/08\/16\/remarks-by-president-biden-on-afghanistan\/\"><span>address<\/span><\/a><span> on Afghanistan. \u201cHow many more lives \u2014 American lives \u2014 is it worth?&nbsp; How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Setting aside the fact that Afghan troops are indeed willing to fight \u2014 with at least 70,000 killed since the conflict began \u2014 this argument dangerously presumes that limiting \u201ccost\u201d in the immediate short term is the primary objective, with no consideration of the consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There are now tens of thousands of American citizens trapped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, and the Biden administration has yet to articulate their plan to help them escape. Given the Taliban\u2019s known violent tendencies \u2014 demonstrated by the ensuing chaos surrounding the Kabul airport alone \u2014 President Biden is facing three options.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Abandon the American citizens in Afghanistan.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Send in military support to forcibly protect the remaining evacuees.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Bribe the Taliban to prevent further harm to the remaining evacuees.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span>Let\u2019s consider the \u201ccost\u201d of these options.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Abandoning the American citizens in Afghanistan will almost certainly result in the torture and eventual murder of those left behind.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Sending in military support will likely result in loss of life if violence breaks out during the evacuation efforts, let alone the financial cost necessary to mobilize such a force.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Bribing the Taliban will, by definition, be financially costly \u2014 let alone ideologically damaging.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span>Given Biden\u2019s \u201cHow many more lives is it worth\u201d justification for his disastrous decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, how are any of these options comparatively valid? How can he possibly justify the cost of his decision, given the logic he used to make that decision?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Such a justification is simply impossible.<\/p>\n<p><i><span>Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ighaworth\"><i><span> @ighaworth<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span> member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the field of economics, a \u201csunk cost\u201d is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. It\u2019s spent. Gone.The \u201csunk cost fallacy\u201d is a logical fallacy &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-666304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}