U.S. lost face in Afghanistan, but it didn’t necessarily lose all in pulling out | Opinion

On Aug. 21, 2017, six months after his inauguration, President Trump addressed the nation from Fort Myer military base in Arlington, Va., about his military plan for Afghanistan. Trump spoke the truth when he said that, “The American people are weary of war without victory.” He added that, “Our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made.”

Four years later, without mincing too many words, President Biden finally pulled the United States out of Afghanistan, and now he is being attacked from all sides: The United States might lose its international standing, Biden’s heritage will be tarnished, and so on.

I beg to differ.

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to put an end to harassment by Palestinian terrorists based there and successfully kicked out the intransigent PLO from its northern neighboring country. Instead of declaring victory and going home, the overambitious Begin-Sharon government decided to intervene in the highly complex internal Lebanese political structure and make its Maronite allies — a Christian minority in this predominantly Muslim country — the kings of Lebanon.

When this scheme failed, Israel decided in 1985 to pull out of Lebanon. But it left behind some Israel Defense Force “advisors” — remember that word from Vietnam? — who were supposed to help the South Lebanese Army secure the border with Israel. However, the Israeli public was weary of more casualties and, in 2000, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the total pullout from Lebanon.

Today, few people in Israel argue that pulling out of Lebanon wasn’t the right thing to do, and it is considered to be the jewel in the crown of Barak’s term. Critics, if any, only asked what took us so long. And Lebanon is Israel’s immediate neighbor, unlike Afghanistan, which is thousands of miles away from America. What’s more, Lebanon has some characteristics of a state — albeit a failed one — unlike Afghanistan, which is a total tribal mess. Presuming to make Afghanistan govern itself and then go home peacefully makes even the Vietnam allusion pale in comparison.

Indeed, the scenes from Kabul Airport were ugly, and leaving behind betrayed allies is heartbreaking — remember Saigon in 1975, or ask the French who had done that twice, in Indo-China in 1954 and in Algeria in 1962. And, of course, the Israelis in 2000, upon pulling out of Lebanon. But as Barak said recently, there are no “nice” pullouts.

Biden decision to cut and run is not necessarily un-American. In 1983, the forerunner of Hezbollah blew up the Marines headquarters in Beirut, killing 241 servicemen — the deadliest day for the Corps since Iwo Jima. President Reagan responded by pulling out of Lebanon and, later, Secretary of State Colin Powell summed it up: “Beirut wasn’t sensible and never did serve a purpose. It was goofy from the beginning.” President Reagan may have leaned on the precedent of President Kennedy, who, in 1961, had dismissed calls to intervene in Cuba after the Bay of Pigs fiasco to defend America’s prestige: “No doubt we will be kicked in the ass for the next couple of weeks, but that won’t affect the main business.”

Pulling out of Afghanistan, of course, is not only a matter of losing face. People might wonder if America has become a “paper tiger,” in the words of Chairman Mao. Here, again, the Israeli experience in Lebanon might offer insight.

Following the pullout in 2000, Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, declared that Israel had become soft, “weaker than a spider’s web.” So much so, that in 2006 he provoked Israel by abducting two Israeli soldiers, only to receive in return a devastating air attack on the Dahieh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, and a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon. Nasrallah has been hiding in his bunker ever since, leaving Israel alone for the past 15 years.

Analogies have their limits. What worked for a small country like Israel doesn’t necessarily fit the American superpower. Looking at others’ experiences, however, can be productive or, at least, consoling.

Uri Dromi was the spokesman of the Rabin and Peres governments from 1992-1996.