War's End Good, Soldier Says as Troops Withdraw

‘Look forward and move on’ is what a Lewis County soldier said about troops withdrawing from Afghanistan. He was asked about it six days before the president spoke Monday, August 16.

In a televised address, President Biden said, “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”

A dozen members of the Fred E. Lomax American Legion Post 127 met August 10, nearly a month before the 20th anniversary of terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Veterans were asked about it because Patriots Day is next month.

Three quarters of those attending didn’t reply, or speak on the record. One said restraint was appropriate. “Every war is senseless,” another said, refusing to be named. A third said people have forgotten 9/11.

Some U.S. troops are still in Iraq, nine years after an official end of that war.

In a recorded conversation, one man reported his experience and opinion. “It’s good that things are finally winding down, so we can move on,” Andrew Rogers said. “It’s been a long time. A lot of people have been missing holidays and family.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Green said, “The Biden Administration’s hastily-conceived withdrawal will continue to destabilize the region, create a power vacuum, and will put Afghan women in danger … If the Taliban retakes the country, the U.S. has no assurance that Afghanistan won’t become a safe-haven for terrorists.”

August 11, Green said, “President Biden owes the American people … answers.”

August 16, Biden said, “This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.

“So what’s happened?” he continued. “Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.

“The developments of the past week,” he said, “reinforced that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.”

Green is a doctor, a decorated Afghanistan veteran, and Lewis County’s congressman.

Rogers’ two deployments to Iraq were for 10- and 15 months.

“We lost a lot of people,” he said. “It’s good that things are finally winding down, so we can move on, get the future in the front windshield and quit looking in the past.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) criticized the Biden’s “weak leadership in Afghanistan,” her office said.

Blackburn’s been in Afghanistan; spoke with local women. Americans worked to improve their lives, she said. “But they’re being raped and forced into marriages with Taliban fighters…” Afghan women who served their government or worked at the U.S. embassy “are very vulnerable,” she said.

In Iraq, Rogers provided maintenance and support for military communications. “We had mechanics working on trucks, welders who welded doors and fabricated up-armor for the vehicles when we were first over there.”