The story of almost 20 years of American involvement in Afghanistan has ended in unmitigated disaster. In fact, it would be difficult to imagine a worst-case scenario than the one that is now playing out. President Biden withdrew US troops and abandoned hundreds of US citizens and thousands of Afghans who risked their lives to help us fight the Taliban without a viable exit strategy. In doing this, he alienated our allies and emboldened our enemies in a way that will haunt us for years to come. Biden and his lackeys have lied to the American people so often about this failed mission that even CNN and MSNBC have called them out. Probably the worst of Biden’s lies was when he said that no Americans would be left behind. No commander-in-chief, under any circumstances, should leave Americans behind in such a hostile environment but this one did.
Words and excuses will not remove the harrowing images of the botched evacuation from our memory. A recent MSNBC op-ed described some of the images, “Over the weekend, people hoping to escape the country swarmed runways, and some clung to departing U.S. military aircraft during takeoff — sometimes for so long that they fell to their deaths. Images of the gut-wrenching scramble that have gone viral have been likened to the U.S. withdrawal from the Vietnam War.”
Those images were bad enough but the ones that came after the suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport on August 26th that killed 10 Marines, two Army soldiers, one Navy Corpsman and some 170 Afghan civilians were even more sickening. To make matters worse, when the dead American heros arrived back in the US in flag-drapped caskets, a number of their families felt that Biden disrespected them and their loved ones.
Back in Afghanistan, horrible atrocities have been taking place. Innocents are being hunted like animals. Everywhere, the Taliban lie in wait, preying. If the Taliban find any evidence on people’s phones that they’re a Christian, they’re killed instantly. Males are being executed on the spot, women are being raped, and adolescent girls are being beaten and taken as sex slaves for Taliban fighters. It is no wonder that people were actually clinging to American military planes leaving the airport, they knew what they would face if they stayed.
Retired 3-Star General, Jerry Boykin said, “What we have done in Afghanistan is one of the most depressing and disgusting things I’ve seen in my 73 years on this earth.”
To ad insult to injury, the Biden administration allowed billions of taxpayer dollars in military equipment to fall into the hands of the Taliban, making that terrorist group one of the best armed forces in the world.
As we go to press, news is surfacing that more than 100 Americans along with another 1,500 refugees, are being held hostage in airplanes on runways. A leaked email from the State Department confirms that the Biden administration refused to grant landing clearance for private evacuation flights from Afghanistan. The report goes on to state that U.S. officials then turned the manifest over to the Taliban. Many of those left behind by the Biden administration are American Christian missionaries and aid workers who were in the countryside hundreds of miles from the airport and unable to respond to the hasty withdrawal. This makes no sense and is just plain evil!
All of the above has caused a tremendous backlash against the president and his administration. A recent poll revealed that a majority of Americans believe President Joe Biden should resign. Many have expressed a degree of anger against this president and his administration that may never subside.
But anger only brings more anxiety and frustration. This presents a real quandary for Christians. The Bible tells us to pray for those in power so they can receive the Lord’s guidance. Effective prayer remains our privilege as God’s children on earth. The apostle Paul gave us the following, very clear instructions concerning prayer for government.
First Timothy 2:2-3 (TPT): “And pray for every political leader and representative, so that we would be able to live tranquil, undisturbed lives, as we worship the awe-inspiring God with pure hearts. It is pleasing to our Savior-God to pray for them.”
He encouraged us to pray for “every political leader and representative.” The word “every” includes those we didn’t vote for and even those we are extremely angry with. They all need the Lord and they need His guidance toward making godly decisions. And it is obvious that godly decisions are a rare thing in Washington today. We should pray because, “it is pleasing to our Savior-God to pray for them,” and because our prayers, unlike our complaining, actually do make a difference.
As upset as many of us are with recent decisions made by President Biden and those around him we must remember that our real adversaries are spiritual and not political. The principalities and powers behind the scenes can only be defeated with spiritual weapons and prayer is one of our greatest weapons. We can’t let news cycles, the internet or our emotions dictate our prayer lives. The people left behind in Afghanistan desperately need our prayers. That shouldn’t be a hard thing for any Christian to do. The challenge for many will be to get down on our knees and pray for the politicians that created this disaster. The ones who lied about it and are still lying to cover their mistakes. The ones whose bad decisions resulted in 13 brave American service men and women being needlessly killed. The ones who have left fellow Americans behind and in grave danger. These are the ones that will challenge us as believers to do what the Bible tells us to do as our flesh tells us to do the opposite.
I challenge every person who reads this article to join me and take a few minutes each day and pray for the people who are being tortured and killed in Afghanistan. Then pray for our politicians that caused this to happen. They may very well need it more that those left behind in Afghanistan.