Thread by @kellystewart01

My dad was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. So yes, watching the news right now is devastating. I’m angry, frustrated. But mostly enraged that it came to this for this war to simply make a headline, let alone lead a newscast, for the other 99% of the country to care.

Seeing a lot of big opinions and blame on the Biden admin for this disastrous withdrawal too. That's lazy. Yes, there are a lot of issues with how this has all unfolded, but we’ve been at war for two decades. That's four administrations.

We were sold on defeating the Taliban, told we were making headway. We clearly failed that mission and that failure didn’t happen during Biden’s 8-months in office. This war has been a bipartisan disaster that cost my father his life.

I was told my dad’s death mattered because it was a part of a Bigger Plan (what that plan was, I could never get a clear answer), that we’d defeat those terrorists that blew him up. I knew in my bones it was a lie.

I’ve been trying to find meaning in the war since his death. When the Afghanistan papers came out two years ago I thought, “Here it is! Now people will care.” And then, nothing.

I wrote about that: washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/0…

I’ve been question the war and searching for meaning in my father’s sacrifice for 10+ years now. Watching Afghanistan fall to the Taliban so quickly just confirms I’ll never find that closure.