So, when the Taliban could offer many Afghans more protection and a better livelihood than the distant Afghan government in Kabul, they sided with the Taliban. Trump was hostile to nation-building from the beginning and entered unilateral negotiations with the Taliban that undercut the legitimacy of the Afghan government. With our tiny presence in the country and fighting season about to begin, Biden would have had to send more troops and get them more involved in direct fighting to stave off the Taliban, a position that would have been opposed by a strong bipartisan majority of the American public.