How Money Walks 

By Alexander Ward
368 pages
Published Feb. 20, 2024

The WSJ recommended The Internationalists last week. I have at least 60 books piled up in various corners of my house and office that I’ve promised myself I would read, but this one intrigued me.

Short of time, I skimmed it. But there were paragraphs and even pages that I put stickies on to get back to when I had time.

One is this observation about Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan:

“During the chaotic scenes that unfolded around Kabul’s airport as Taliban-aligned forces began taking over the capital, White House officials knew the president was making promises he couldn’t keep to get people out of the country.

“Biden told ABC News on Aug. 18, 2021, that he was committed to having troops stay in Afghanistan until every US citizen who wanted to leave could do so.” A senior White House official told Ward at the time: “There’s no one here who thinks we can meet that promise.”

“Ultimately, Biden withdrew the last US troops there two weeks later, but left more than 800 American citizens in Afghanistan. Also left behind: Tens of thousands of Afghans who allied with the US and had been promised refuge in the US. So White House staff knew that Americans and many of our friends would be left behind but nobody felt compelled to blow the whistle? One can only wonder who would hire such people.”

This morning, I found a critique of the book by James Freeman in the WSJ that elaborates on the issue. You can read it here.