TOPSHOT – Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
It is not often that a foreign crisis can provide important crisis management lessons for business leaders. The impact of the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the unfolding crisis in that country is one of those times.
The early lessons from this rapidly developing situation include:
Keep People Posted
According to the Associated Press today, “The White House says Biden will travel back to Washington from the Camp David presidential retreat to speak at 3:45 p.m. from the East Room. It will be his first public remarks on the Afghanistan situation in nearly a week. Biden and other top U.S. officials had been stunned by the pace of the Taliban’s swift routing of the Afghan military.”
Explain Your Actions
In a statement last Saturday, Biden said that “One more year, or five more years, of U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country. And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.”
Express Concern
The Washington Post reported,” With Taliban fighters poised to rout the U.S.-backed Afghan government — and with it the 20-year, multibillion-dollar effort to root Western-style democracy in Afghan soil — President Biden over the weekend first offered compassion for those left behind.
“Our hearts go out to the brave Afghan men and women who are now at risk,” he said in a statement late Saturday as insurgents closed in on Kabul.”
Monitor The Crisis
According to the Washington Post, “Biden monitored the debacle on Sunday from Camp David in Maryland, where he held a video conference with national security advisers.”
Bring In The Resource You Need
Biden authorized the deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan and announced a series of steps that he said would protect American interests, the New York Times reported.
This article was written by Edward Segal from Forbes and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
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