Kudlow: The Taliban are our enemies, not our friends

Some days it really doesn't pay to read the newspapers. Today, for example, I’m reading one of my favorites: The New York Post. 

I started at the back, where the sports section reported that Gerrit Cole pitched a fabulous 7 innings, striking out 15 and stopping the Yanks' 4-game losing streak. 

I am, as you may know, a manic, devout, die-hard Yankee fan. I saw part of the game last night and he's definitely worth the $300 million bucks or whatever they're paying him. It's a pity he can't pitch every day and Aaron Judge went 3 for 4. I always read the box score. 

Then, I turned to the front of the paper and that's when I got this searing headache which I have not been able to shake off all day.  

First, I start reading the details that President Joe Biden called former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to tell him that it's time to start fibbing about the fact that the Taliban was already marching to take over Afghanistan. Biden didn't like the news, so he told Ghani to start painting a different picture—a PR campaign. 

This, of course, from our president who continues up until right now to deny that he ever had any inkling that the Taliban was coming fast and strong to take Kabul and the rest of the country.  

I've worked for a couple of presidents and I know there's always a fib or two out there, but this Biden ploy reaches a level of cognitive dissonance that is historic and virtually unheard of. 

Then, I read that Secretary of Defense Austin and Joint Chiefs chairman Milley held a briefing during which time General Milley suggested that we, the U.S., might keep a relationship with the Taliban. He called it a possibility. 

In other reports, you read administration officials saying they need the Taliban’s help against ISIS-K. This is total utter nonsense. 

The Taliban are a bunch of barbaric cutthroat terrorists. The only people they're going to help are like-minded terrorists. They have no interest in helping the U.S. or any other civilized country or democracy around the world. 

The administration has made so many catastrophic blunders that it is hard to believe the story can get worse and I would remind the president and his advisers that on September 23, 2001, the State Department found that the Taliban was a "specially designated global terrorists." 

Let me repeat: specially designated global terrorists. Former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft told us this two days ago. 

In 2002, President George W. Bush elevated the State Department's dictum into an official executive order, and then by 2008 there was a congressional law mandating that the Taliban be considered a terrorist organization for immigration purposes. Additionally, the Treasury Department continues to classify the Taliban as an FTO—that is Foreign Terrorist Organization. 

So, in other words, they are our enemies, not our friends. We shouldn't let them in the country and we shouldn't give them any money. Can I be clearer than that? Enemies stay out of here - no money.  

So, if all these woke, defense and foreign policy advisers in the administration think we're going to do business with the Taliban: 

(A) Think again and (B) You're going to have to repeal, in a public way, an executive order, a congressional law and two cabinet departmental orders. 

Finally, to intensify my headache, I read in the Wall Street Journal a story with the headline, "Majority of Interpreters, Other U.S. Visa Applicants Were Left Behind In Afghanistan."  

The subheader says "U.S. still doesn't have reliable data on who was evacuated from Afghanistan, a senior State Department official says" 

Well, if a majority of interpreters and these special immigrant visa people (SIVs) are still in Afghanistan then who the heck are the hundred thousand Afghans that have just arrived here from our airlift? Who are they? 

So, let me get this right: the ones we wanted to get here are still there and the ones we don't know anything about have come here? This is Laurel and Hardy stuff and if you don't know what I’m talking about just Google up "Laurel" and "Hardy." 

Now, this is a separate issue from the stain on America’s military honor of leaving a couple of hundred Americans behind in Afghanistan. 

Our troops left first and Americans are still left on the battlefield. Reports are that the Taliban are going house to house looking for Americans and interpreters. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

You can see why I have a brutal headache. 

I'm not going to blame the media. I'm going to blame the administration. You can see why I prefer to read about the Yankees and their star pitcher, but there's always hope.