Vice President Harris cannot be held responsible for President Biden's decisions.

I have no doubt there will be attempts to assign Kamala Harris with Biden's policies and decisions. The relationship between the President and Vice President was made clear right at the beginning of President Biden's term in office. He stated clearly the Vice President would be involved in all high level meetings to have the information he had when he made decisions. She was not simply a figure head in this administration, however, she was not the decision maker. So, in regard to Afghanistan's exit, President Biden would have shouldered the final decision, while the Vice President felt free to verbalize her concerns and insight. 

Personally, I don't believe there was any easy way out of Afghanistan. The fact an occupation of Afghanistan resulted in nothing substantial to bring about a civilized society and government speaks for itself.

The war was started to end the occupation of al Qaeda in Afghanistan (which was achieved) after Osama bin Laden successfully carried out the attacks on the USA on September 11, 2001. The USA for twenty years, an entire generation, attempted to provide stability to the country in hopes no terrorist organizations would repopulate it. The Taliban was and is not considered a terrorist organization. It never took credit for substantial attacks within Afghanistan that killed many people. We know today there are other organizations that use violence to intimidate the government and civilian populations in Afghanistan, including ISIS and the Haqqani network.

The costs of the war in Afghanistan were significant. $2.313 trillion US was spent in that war and it achieved nothing but a lot of heartache, including "Green on blue attacks." The USA and any allies during that period of time never achieved the goals many hoped.

(Click here for graph)

The American people agreed with the President we had to leave Afghanistan, but, felt the way in which we left was not done well.

(Click here for chart on right)

It was time to go and there was no easy way to do it. The USA military actually spent at least the previous two weeks destroying munitions and armaments so there would be no advantage to the USA leaving. That was not unusual in Afghanistan. It was often littered with war debris, be it USA or Russian. 

March 2013

...The large sums borrowed (click here) to finance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will also impose substantial long-term debt servicing costs. As a consequence of these wartime spending choices, the United States will face constraints in funding investments in personnel and diplomacy, research and development and new military initiatives. The legacy of decisions taken during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will dominate future federal budgets for decades to come....

The human costs were staggering.

...the war led to the deaths of 2,324 U.S. military personnel, (click here) 3,917 U.S. contractors and 1,144 allied troops. For Afghans, the statistics are nearly unimaginable: 70,000 Afghan military and police deaths, 46,319 Afghan civilians (although that is likely a significant underestimation) and some 53,000 opposition fighters killed. Almost 67,000 other people were killed in Pakistan in relation to the Afghan war....

It would have been best if the USA achieved stability in the country along with greater human rights. It wasn't going to happen. The Taliban was allowed to reconstitute in Pakistan and the poppy culture was never allowed to end. The poppy crops were allowed to grow as Afghans stated that was a primary income for the country. Allowing opium to grow in Afghanistan was all part of the corruption occurring in the country during the time of occupation. But, since the Taliban took over there has been a large reduction in the poppy crops. The opium is banned under Taliban rule. People outside of Afghanistan still argue that was a bad idea and the poppy crop was important. The poppy crop in Afghanistan dropped 95 percent since the USA pulled out. 

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2023 (click here)

There were 13 great Americans lost in Afghanistan on the last day of occupation. It was tragic, but, it also saved lives if the occupation was to continue. Could it have been done better? I sincerely don't believe it could. The USA was leaving. There were no more troops in the country, except at the airport. 

Without peace accords and a civilization that is organized and predictable, leaving an occupation is never neat and orderly.