1ºJohn Marengo that is problem with the political debate related to this... as I said, blame can be place on both major political parties for that fiasco.. and it didn't start with the actual withdrawal.. and in many ways it didn't end on that day either.. as the effects are still being felt by this mother, veterans that served there, other families, and countless others.. we can also blame every President involved, even before Bush, going back to at least Reagan. If you are a Republican or Trump supporter you are likely to place a disproportionate about of the blame on Biden as will some others. But remember, it was Trump who signed the withdrawal agreement, it wasn't a peace treaty, in order for it to have been one, the Afghan government would have been included.. Trump also drew down our troop strength to below 2,500 a month prior to leaving office, refused to participate in a transition of power. Basically setting it up for failure.. I am sure things could have been done better, but how? Bring in more U.S. troops to assist? okay would the Taliban have seen that as an act of aggression and would that have re-escalated the conflict? The Americans in Afghanistan at the time knew we were leaving, why did so many wait to leave.. some are still there, most of them actually have dual citizenship.. I could go on and on.. Bottomline there is more than enough blame to go around.
2ºDianne Michel-Bennett Bertucci you say “you still feel she should be allowed to grieve in whatever stage she’s in” and that they deserve respect… okay, great! I AGREE!!!!!!! No one is disputing that!!! UNDERSTAND??? I’m responding to the initial comment that was made with regards to this being made into a political issue. Now listen carefully this time… are you tuning in??.. here goes… I’m saying the mom, herself, has made this into a political issue SO when it’s discussed in a political light, don’t blame CNN or any other news outlet for it!!!! THE MOTHER initiated the political aspect of this sad situation, from the get go, herself.. not CNN. While we’re on that subject, if you think CNN is the only entity that “divides” our country, you’re in major denial. I won’t waste my time pointing out the obvious other “dividing factors” that have fractured our country including and most importantly, your Trump, as I know this is a complete waste of time. You’re a one track mind and I can’t help you. Moving on now.. try to stop being the problem and have a nice day.
3ºI’m sorry to say that efforts and bravery of those brave soldiers resulted in what they would have never loved to see - (gifting Afghanistan to terrorists and gifting the terrorist the world’s modern warfare)
This is not what they fought and died for - it’s crazy to see how a soldier fight and how a politician who is not in the field - trades destiny of humans towards a dark future.
Matter of fact - people of Afghanistan is currently in world’s biggest open prison called Afghanistan - where there is no right for women education or work - no freedom of culture practice or speech - just because politicians could not maintain the fighting glory of such fallen soldiers!
My condolences to this mother and shame to the politicians causing such sorrows or at least not being able to give such sacrifices a meaningful mean through positive outcomes!
4ºMalinda Smith this was exactly my point in my comment. Trying to explain that without those that “choose to serve”, draft, etc would occur again and because we are a nation about equality, it would be daughters sent off too.
There is no appropriate response other than “sorry for your loss”. Stating that they know what they signed up for?!? How disgusting and while that is true nobody signs the line saying to themselves “I hope I die in combat”. The hope is that it never comes to such even with the known risk. The brother couldn’t have prevented him from serving even if he wanted to and this mother is burying another kid because the grief was just too much to bear for him.
I’m disgusted with the comment of “he knew what he signed up for”… utterly disgusted.
When a teen dies in a horrific car accident do we say “you knew the risk of letting her drive and so did the family”? No even though the apparent risk is there.
5ºKathy Landers Nelson I am
I have autism so it makes me very anxious to ask people I may meet.
I would really like to understand it
There has to be something I am missing
The Taliban they released were all skin and bones and were probably starved and abused until they were more wild than they were .
I guess they are an extremist religious group who partners up with Al Qaeda.
Trump made an agreement to leave by a certain date and the Taliban promised to not attack us if we followed the agreement..
5000 prisoners doesn't sound like much , that they could take over a country..they took over right away..it feels like we really could not help them after all that time..
Obviously they can't have a democracy
So ya..I honestly don't understand why we gave a country to a group who teams up with Al-Qaeda
I don't think it's just me
I think unless you are a veteran you are not going to really understand it without a lot of explaining..
6ºKaren Johnson Tooley Wow, You are so lost. No one in Military history screwed up like Biden did. He murdered those American Soldiers by his incompetence. What the hell does that have to do with Trump. Trump was not President. Biden made all those moves. You do know who the Commander in chief is right now don't you. It is Joe Biden. Just so you know it was Joe Biden that gave the orders to evacuate Afghanistan the way they did. We lost billions of dollars of equipment. That idiot Biden only wanted one evaluation point. It was not safe at all. How are you so blind with hate for Trump you can not see that. Biden is a awful President. I am not a sheep for any party. You are part of the twenty percent that thinks Biden is doing a good job. Those Soldiers and allies Deaths are on Democrats hands.
7ºPamela Pack Don’t be a bully after you failed at being a parent.
I was deployed and was there … afterwards I shared that experience with others so they wouldn’t have to go. Are you saying there was no available resources you could ACT ON to educate yourself on how dangerous it is to be in the military? Or are you saying you CHOSE to ignore that danger and supported your son’s terrible decision to join the military?
You’re acting like a victim. That’s false. Did you ever sit your son down and go over the TENS OF THOUSANDS of other jobs he could have done? And don’t say “hE wAnTEd tO eNLisT…!”… It’s your duty to PROTECT your child. You failed. And I’ve even told my parents they are garbage humans for co-signing me up at 17 yrs old and did the same thing you did - fail their kid.
Don’t be upset because you didn’t do the work when you were supposed to. The only “despicable” person in this conversation is the one who DIDNT serve in the military, knows nothing of what they are talking about, and chose to be willfully ignorant at the most important time of their child’s life their kid could have used their EDUCATED support.
Get lost. You’re just angry at everyone but yourself. Take responsibility. Did I support your son going into the military? Nope… YOU DID.
Now deal with the fallout from being a bad parent and take the insults you should be saying to yourself in the mirror with you.
Anthem Gun Aether | United States Veteran - Desert Storm deployed | PARENT to no one in the modern military.
8ºI'm sad for this family. I really am. But what a completely biased article. It's one thing for this mother to lay blame. I understand that. She lost a son over there. But what I don't like is the framing of this article. It's as if we were supposed to somehow know that there would be a suicide bomber. We lost the war. There was no "orderly way" to get out.
What this completely biased article conveniently failed to mention is that our exit date from Afghanistan was predetermined by the previous administration. And what the current administration did not know was that the Afghans would drop their weapons and surrender immediately once we started to withdraw. So, obviously, the hundreds of billions it took to train those people and prop up that country was well-spent, wasn't it?
At the end of the day, this was a war. And in war, people die. My opinion is that we should never have been over there in the first place. Both those wars were pointless, unjust and unnecessary. But that is something that no one in media wants to talk about. The media would rather exploit people and their grief just to get clicks and likes. And that, sadly, is what is happening here.
9ºTraci Thompson my parents, uncles, and kids all serve. NOTHING and I mean NOTHING prepares you for it to be your own kid (not even my step-son being active during war and sent to war 3 times prepaired me for it to be my son). I understood and was worried and all but NOTHING, no matter how close the relation, prepared me for it to be my own kid.
I think most people in this country have family that have served but with enlistment down 50% and contract renewals down from previous years, it should really say something about the lack of trust those that choose to serve have in the man in the big chair making the decisions.
10ºHow do I live happily when nothing matters to me anymore?
You may not be depressed, you may just be intelligent. You are expressing existential nihilism, which is the belief that life has no intrinsic meaning or value. With respect to the universe, existential nihilism posits that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence. We live within a society that has largely rejected theism and implicitly, if not explicitly, entered into nihilism (See the wikipedia entry for further details). The meaninglessness of life is largely explored in the philosophical school of existentialism. In the view of the existentialist, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential attitude", or a sense of disorientation, confusion, or dread in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Søren Kierkegaard proposed that each individual, not society or religion, is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely, or "authentically".