Let the attacks grow stronger. No, not the Taliban vs. Afghanistan attacks, but rather the Left vs. the Right.

Granted, as we normally view it, there is once again plenty of blame to go around. But as in our favorite film, “The Godfather,” the father cautions the son to never let his adversaries know what you are thinking. So giving the Taliban and, in turn, al-Qaida, months of notice of our military plans (or lack of) is downright stupid.

Other than being for matters of possible life and death, decision-making in matters of foreign policy and war or peacekeeping are all the same. You have to use what little intelligence you may have been given by God to leverage what you can to secure the best outcome.

Did David warn Goliath to put on a helmet before he would get hit by a rock aimed at his head? Did we send advance warning to Hitler that Allied forces would arrive on the shores of France on June 6, 1944? Did Osama Bin Laden tell anyone not to use their frequent flyer miles to go to New York City on Sept. 11, 2001? No, because the last thing you do is warn your opponent so that they are prepared to attack, defend or run.

For 20 years, we have been getting even with al-Qaida for the attacks on 9/11. For 20 years, Congress and the White House have, almost daily, used the situation in Afghanistan as a political football, blaming the other side of the aisle each time the public questioned them. We have been through a variety of presidents serving as commander-in-chief, some with military backgrounds and others who wouldn’t know a foxhole from a beaver dam.

But the current president and his predecessor, each of whom is either loved or hated, made the capital sin of disclosing their plans to the enemy. Former President Trump, under pressure from Congress and the public, announced a timeline for getting troops out. President Biden, before he recently went into hiding, got much more specific and probably encouraged al-Qaida to move more quickly while we would be busy with our efforts to casually and comfortably walk away.

This isn’t just a public relations disaster. Moving our withdrawal plans up caused a huge military blunder as we failed to destroy, deactivate or remove all weapons or secure all files and records. Some of us have seen movie clips of the military dumping vehicles such as Jeeps and tanks into the waters of Vietnam rather than leaving them to usable by the enemy.

The Taliban has practically given al-Qaida the keys to the city and spreading palm branches in Kabul as they ride in on their donkeys to take over, so they can execute those who they think had been of help to us and also to return women to the miserable lives and rules they suffered under in the past.

There is plenty of blame to go around, and it will all be slanted this way or that based on your political bias. But what we should be most concerned about is, when will the current day leaders shifting in the sand decide to renew this 20-year-old travesty and go send our young men and women off to fight another unending war? While we have been busy chasing voter irregularities, briefcases and laptops in Russia, busting out windows in the Capitol Building and seeking revenge on political adversaries, al-Qaida has been growing and getting more dangerous. They aren’t fighting over who to put on what committees or whether to mail in ballots and require identification at the polls. They simply focus on how to destroy us.

We don’t even know they are the enemy. Here in the United States, it is politics as usual. God help us.

— RV