Afghanistan Army veteran Laura Jedeed explained that her work on the 82nd Airborne was sent to the country to train the police forces there. That isn't what the 82nd Airborne does, nor does it know how to do it, she said. This was one of the many problems she saw that ultimately led to a disastrous withdrawal.
"We ended up doing all the work, and I just don't think that we understood the country well enough to establish anything permanent," she said. "I mean, this was always going to happen; the only question was when. The best time for this to happen would have been many years ago, but the second-best time is now."
MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell cited a poetic and tragic story Jedeed wrote about a young boy who worked in the cafeteria on her base. They called him "Cowboy." She wondered if he was still alive and explained how she desperately wanted to get him to the U.S. because his dream was to go to college there. The colleges in the U.S. don't consider Afghanistan schools to be legitimate enough to accept people like him.
"Though it breaks my heart to see the images of Kabul airport and images of people like Cowboy, I still think it's the right thing to do and I'm glad that we're out," Jedeed said.
See the interview below:
82nd Airborne vet explains why there was no good way to get out of Afghanistanwww.youtube.com
