Will we ever get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, ever? ABC News reports that President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing for the likelihood that troops will remain in Afghanistan past a May deadline established in an agreement with the Taliban because of ongoing attacks and assassinations there.
During the Democratic primary debates, Biden said he wanted to end our wars in the Middle East and bring troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq, but he also made it clear he does want to keep some military presence within the country for antiterrorism and intelligence purposes.
As his presidential term ended, Donald Trump pushed for a faster withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which drew criticism even though it’s what Americans across the political spectrum actually want.
…………………………….
We are bringing neither peace nor democracy to Afghanistan, and a sober read-through of SIGAR’s reports makes it pretty clear that the country is likely to remain unstable for the near future.
After two decades of military intervention in Afghanistan, there is little reason to believe continued military participation, training of the country’s police forces, or oversight of the nation’s elections is going to work. Biden promised on the campaign trail to get the U.S. out of this quagmire. So did the prior two presidents. Trump did finally manage to get some troops out of there. Rather than treating this as some sort of reckless behavior—as through throwing billions of dollars away and losing thousands of U.S. troops there is not reckless—Biden needs to follow through on his promise.
Read the rest of this article at Reason
