The American public reminds me of an episode in my oldest daughter's childhood. The Divine Mrs. M was going to the store and asked Alicia if she wanted to go with her. My precious 5 year old said yes, until I offered an adventure at home, the nature of which I can't recall. Alicia said yes, I want to stay. Over the next couple of minutes, she vacillated between staying and going, finally bursting into tears.
Long story short, that is how many Americans are treating the shit show in Afghanistan. Most people want to see the intervention end after 20 fruitless years. However, under the constant bombardment of media coverage of the chaos at the Kabul airport many now support pouring more troops into the maelstrom. A calm day at the airport changes public opinion yet again. No matter what the talking heads and opinion pages say, it was always going to be a traumatic experience. Disengagement without a clear winner is distasteful to a public led to believe in the omniscience of the military.
The Biden administration has opted to go, believing that ultimately, the public has had enough of this particular quagmire. If we can somehow pull our Afghan allies out of the maelstrom in the coming weeks, Joe and company will be vindicated. If, however there is escalating media coverage of innocents being killed by a vicious Taliban, all bets are off.
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