Delusion vs. Delusion

There is so much I find baffling in Max Boot’s most recent Washington Post column I hardly know where to start. He’s very upset about the present state of affairs in Afghanistan. After describing the situation:

The situation in Afghanistan is going from bad to worse. The Taliban has captured nine provincial capitals, including seven in northern Afghanistan — making it more unlikely that its adversaries can regroup in that region, as they did in the 1990s. The Long War Journal reports that the Taliban already controls 57 percent of the country’s districts, compared with only 16 percent for the government. (The rest are contested.) The Taliban is now besieging major cities, including Mazar-e Sharif, Herat and Kandahar, and U.S. military officials are now reportedly warning that Kabul could fall in 30 to 90 days.

followed by quoting Biden Administration spokespersons:

Here is White House press secretary Jen Psaki: “If the Taliban claim to want international legitimacy, these actions are not going to get them the legitimacy they seek.… They could choose to devote the same energy to their peace process as they are to their military campaign. We strongly urge them to do so.”

Here is Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “We’re actively engaged in diplomacy because there is no military solution to this conflict.”

And here is Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy to the Afghan peace talks, who is trying in vain to persuade the Taliban to stop its offensive: “We don’t see a military solution to the war in Afghanistan. There must be a political solution, a political agreement for a lasting peace, and we will stay with it.”

he makes his assessment:

I’m sorry, but this is simply delusional. The administration has convinced itself that the Taliban desires international “legitimacy” so badly that it will refrain from achieving its aims by force of arms. There is no evidence for this view.

I’m not as convinced as he. I think the Biden Administration is trying to get out of a no-win situation in Afghanistan by removing our troops from the country. They’re making diplo-speak happy noises to cover up the bitter reality.

What baffles me? What’s the unit of measure of “delusion”? When has Mr. Boot ever advocated a position on Afghanistan that was not delusional? How can you compare Mr. Boot’s delusions with the Biden Administration’s? After removing the Taliban and occupying the country there have only been two alternative strategies for the country that border on not being delusional. Maybe call them “delusion adjacent”. Either we could leave troops there and occupy the country permanently or we could do what we are doing now. Every other position has been delusional.

Furthermore no president in the years that have intervened since we invaded and occupied Afghanistan has ever advocated a permanent occupation. It’s been one delusion after another. I opposed the invasion of Afghanistan. Punitive raid—yes; invasion and occupation—no. I thought that President Bush was remiss in neither attempting to prepare the American people for a permanent occupation of the country (it would have been entertaining to watch him try) nor withdrawing our troops back in 2005. Everything else has just been temporizing.