Colbert King says -kateb column in the

"Washington Post" ( of

Washington Post

) The fall of

Afghanistan at the

hands of the

Taliban was expected, and he was always aware that this moment would come, explaining that this war is the

longest war waged by

America has been likened to the

Vietnam War, noting It is a war that America has never won.

King goes on to paint a picture of the current situation in Afghanistan, saying that some provincial capitals in Afghanistan are falling like dominoes in the wake of a lightning attack by the Taliban.

The timing of the possible fall of the Afghan capital has been adjusted several times, starting with 3 months and down to a month, and now the Americans are being asked to evacuate "immediately" in the best possible way.

Officially, the US military was scheduled to leave on August 31, but now most of the troops have already disappeared.

The evacuation is underway, even as President Joe Biden's administration has assembled a mix of international actors in an effort to dissuade the Taliban from seeking a military victory.

The last straw of hope

In an article in the

newspaper, the

writer

recalls the memory of the hasty and confusion of the American forces’ departure from Vietnam 46 years ago, noting that there were desperate scenes of dispersed families crying out for help, begging not to be left there, and clinging to the last straw of hope.

He said that many Americans of his generation remember the April 30, 1975 CBS Evening News report, a report by Ed Bradley about the unfolding evacuation as North Vietnamese forces approached Saigon.

He remembers that - after many bloody years that drained life and the American treasury - the US intervention in Vietnam was ending, even - as Bradley reported - with fleeing helicopters landing in the water, Vietnamese pilots jumping from planes, and people swimming in boats.


The fall of Kabul and Saigon

He said that the current generation hopes to avoid the spectacle of the fall of the Afghan capital, Kabul, as Saigon fell, and not to witness the Afghan crowds desperately searching for a way out of their country, as the South Vietnamese were desperately seeking to get out of their country.

He also said he has written about former US President Barack Obama's Afghan zigzags and his troop surge decisions, Afghan weaknesses, as well as former President Donald Trump's turmoil and vicissitudes.

He added that he is now looking back with regret;

Because his voice was too little, and perhaps his concerns were too muted or understated, to make a difference in this colossal US military failure, noting that towards the end, some voices still shouted "Give Afghanistan more time; a little more air cover; team New advisors. Just a little time."

Shades out of Vietnam

King describes what is happening in Afghanistan currently in the shadows of exit from Vietnam, saying that Afghan immigrants have flooded neighboring countries in recent days in an attempt to make their way to Europe, because to survive with the Taliban, Afghanistan must become the site of a well-equipped and strategically located American military base With a long-term lease.

"But as with Vietnam, a weak and unstable Afghan government will only exacerbate American tragedy, catastrophe and losses," he concludes.