President Joe Biden is determined to do everything in Afghanistan as stupidly as possible. The way he left the country was stupid. The way he let the Taliban take over Kabul was stupid, and the way he blamed the Afghan army was stupid. Now, he has a choice to make: will he double-down on his stupidity or fulfill his duty to the people of Afghanistan? Right now, as I write this, thousands of Afghan resistance fighters have gathered in the Panjshir province just north of Kabul. Many are former members of the Afghan army, including special forces units. They are led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of the late Afghan resistance leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud. Shah Massoud fought the Soviet Union and then the Taliban, but he was assassinated in 2001. Now his son is leading the effort, and he’s calling on the United States for help. He penned an editorial for the Washington Post explaining the situation and pleading with the West for ammunition, arms, and supplies: I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban. We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time, because we knew this day might come.We also have the weapons carried by the Afghans who, over the past 72 hours, have responded to my appeal to join the resistance in Panjshir. We have soldiers from the Afghan regular army who were disgusted by the surrender of their commanders and are now making their way to the hills of Panjshir with their equipment. Former members of the Afghan Special Forces have also joined our struggle.But that is not enough. If Taliban warlords launch an assault, they will of course face staunch resistance from us. The flag of the National Resistance Front will fly over every position that they attempt to take, as the National United Front flag flew 20 years ago. Yet we know that our military forces and logistics will not be sufficient. They will be rapidly depleted unless our friends in the West can find a way to supply us without delay. SEE ALSO: Rachel Levine Is a Perfect Snapshot of This Administration Massoud is committed to democracy, to an open society, and to women’s rights. He wants his country to be a place in which the press can report freely, and young people can dance and listen to music and attend soccer matches. President Biden can end his streak of stupid decisions by answering Massoud’s call for help. He doesn’t have to send in American soldiers, and Massoud doesn’t ask for them. But he can help arm resistance fighters to create a haven for the Afghans currently being targeted by the Taliban for helping the United States. I’m not the only one saying this, by the way. The Clarion Project’s Ryan Mauro told the Morning Wire that the U.S. and its allies should immediately fortify the Panjshir province and create a safety zone for everyone currently trying to flee the Taliban. “Much like we set up one for the Kurds in Iraq under Saddam Hussein… it’s also the model that enabled us to defeat the Taliban in the first place. We allied with the Northern Alliance against the Taliban, and we were quickly successful. If we have a safe haven for them, they won’t be destroyed… and they can fight the terrorists for us,” he said. This seems like a good idea to me, and if President Biden goes along with it, it will be the only good idea he’s implemented during this entire terrible disaster.
