Do you think Joe Biden should have evacuated all the citizens of Afghanistan first and then the troops, or was it right the way he did it?

(My answer on Quora)

I suspect by the phrase ‘all the citizens of Afghanistan’ you are referring specifically to those who hold Green cards or assisted the United States in various capacities (usually translators between 2001 and 2021). Afghanistan after all has a population of 38 million souls. The well being of all is not an American responsibility.

Whatever you cut it the Biden Administration made a hash of the process.

The correct order of operation in my opinion would be

1. Evacuate All American citizens other than embassy staff. Embassy staff ought to be reinforced for adequate vetting.
2. Evacuate allies and Green card holders
3. Withdraw part of the ground troops while giving considerable support to the Afghan army
4. Withdraw the rest of the Embassy staff and various stragglers - use special forces to assist in evacuation of those stranded in difficult positions (as did the British and the French)
5. Maintain air support at Bagram base with Army contingent until the situation settles down. Leave according to a US mandated timetable. The US controls the shots here not the Taliban. Who is the superpower?

What happened instead is that

1. The US closed the air base at Bagram (in July) leaving both its own troops and the Afghan army with little air support despite the fact that the latter’s training had been predicated on such support.
2. Biden then told the world that the situation was under control and it was unlikely that Kabul would fall to the Taliban (even though the leaked voice transcript that he had with the Afghan President indicates otherwise).
3. With little air support the Afghan army crumbled in the face of a Taliban drive that had the blessings of Pakistan.
4. Seeing the writing on the wall and not wishing to see himself hanging from a lamppost the Afghani President left Afghanistan with a great deal of his possessions.
5. Leaderless and rudderless the army completely collapsed leaving Kabul at the mercy of the Taliban.
6. It was at this point that it believed the US had the opportunity to reach a deal with the Taliban ensuring American control of the airport until complete evacuation. This option was not exercised so that the Taliban (including the Haqqani network) had control of the key gates to the airport (at least three of the four).
7. The chaos of the evacuation begins. Crowds gather outside the embassy. Taliban controls all in and out privileges. US officials makes dangerous decision to supply the Taliban with list of Afghanis seeking to leave. It is all rush, rush at this point as the August 31st deadline looms.
8. A suicide bomber claims a dozen American lives causing numerous injuries as well. A retaliatory US drone attack takes the lives of innocent Afghan citizens including some children.
9. The Biden Administration signs off on the leave on the 31st of August patting itself on the back for a job well done. Changing estimates as to how many people are still left behind grow more disturbing.
10. American credibility receives its biggest kick in the teeth since Vietnam (perhaps more so) with American allies questioning the competency of the decision making by the talking heads at the State Department, Pentagon and Oval Office.
11. ISIS-K and Al Qaeda are back in Afghanistan and in the words of Yogi Berra it is deja vu all over again.

The FUBAR of all FUBARS. If that isn’t bad enough the lies told by the Administration should make any thinking or caring person wretch.

How many Americans are still left in Afghanistan? Good luck getting getting a straight answer from anyone in the Biden Administration.