Afghan Chaos Provides Real-Time Crisis Management Lessons

It is not often that a foreign crisis provides important crisis management lessons for business leaders. The unfolding situation in Afghanistan because of the departure of U.S. troops is one of those times.

The initial 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 Resources 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.