Today, President Biden formally announced that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the firm deadline of September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Like those before him, ending the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan was a campaign promise. However, he is the only one to follow through on it.
After months of consideration, President Biden cited a number of reasons for the decision, among them the extensive costs and the limited successes of the effort. Yet, this decision is not without criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, with appointed cabinet members expressing the consequences of withdrawing troops. Included within them, the likelihood for the Afghan government to collapse without U.S. support, and a grim future for peace talks with the Taliban. As a consequence, there are likely to be setbacks to security, democracy, and women's rights within Afghanistan. Others, such as Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, expressed the potential for Afghanistan to become a "breeding ground for international terrorists" without American involvement in the country. Despite these fears, U.S. presence in the region has been on the decline, with troops being at their lowest level since 2001.
Although troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan, President Biden has indicated that the U.S. will continue to provide military assistance and humanitarian aid to the Afghan government. In addition, he expressed a desire to move on from Afghanistan and turn priorities of foreign policy towards Asia and Russia. The U.S. will continue to support peace talks, and President Biden has displayed hopes that a new approach, different from the military presence of the past decade, being more successful.
By winding down U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, President Biden may have the opportunity to focus more on domestic issues, such as unemployment as a result of the pandemic and the loss of many small businesses. Furthermore, as China and Russia become increasingly more powerful and present in international tensions, it makes sense for Biden to turn his eyes away from Afghanistan. Recent border conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, with the current amassment of Russian troops at the border, as well as known Russian interference with the U.S. political system, are of more immediate importance than what Biden has described as a conflict whose purpose has become unclear. And, the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China in conjunction with their cracking down on Hong Kong has elevated the importance of addressing the country's global presence. Recently, President Biden has proposed a summit with Russia and also placed sanctions on a number of Chinese computing firms assisting the Chinese government with the development of advanced military technology. Also, Biden will have more time to consider the current state of competition between the U.S. and China with respect to the economy, such as ensuring the success of his infrastructure spending proposal.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-afghanistan-withdrawal-time-end-americas-longest-war/story?id=77066766
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/14/what-we-know-about-us-troop-withdrawal-from-afghanistan
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/politics/joe-biden-afghanistan-announcement/index.html
6 comments:
To start off, I am not a big fan of war. War is useful in self-defense, but sometimes it feels like it is just powerful people throwing the lives of others at one another in order to gain more power. Thinking about Afghanistan, I definitely agree with the original military involvement in the area. However, now that there is little threat to the American people from that region, there is no reason to spend money and lives there. Out of this proposition I hope for two things. The first is that I hope this makes the U.S. consider its military involvement in other countries to prioritize placing troops in the ones that actually pose serious threats to ourselves and our allies. Secondly, I hope this eventually leads to a decreased military budget. Our military budget is tremendous as compared to those of every other country in the world, and reducing it can fix both domestic and more serious global issues, such as our homelessness problem and climate change.
Regardless of what course of action Biden takes, many people in the Middle East will continue to die and suffer. I think that removing troops is the better course of action for the most part. Afghanistan is very different than what it once was, and I think that currently, there are bigger domestic threats, like Peter said. Unemployment, global warming, hunger and domestic absue affect many more people than does terrorism. Of course we do not want to leave the area completely unguarded though, as we would not want it to become a birthplace for terrorist activity. One proposition I saw online was to put in aircraft carrier in the Persian Golf with Special forces to keep an eye out for any trouble. Certainly, a cost effective solution such as that would be a good replacement for the troops that are currently stationed in Afghanistan.
I agree with both Peter and Michael that war for the US in this scenario is ineffective and that Biden made the right decision by removing troops from Afghanistan. I also think that many people are overestimating the threat of Afghanistan in the grand scale of the other issues we face as a planet, including global warming and the growth of much more prominent military powers, such as Russia and China (as mentioned). That being said, Biden may have also had some political motivation, as he said in an interview that the rushed deadline is in place to follow through with Trump's plan to remove troops from Afghanistan because he wants to follow through with the deal made by the US. I think he wants to show some type of compromise in this fashion. As far as domestic issues that Biden may intend to face with extra resources, I think he will invest them towards immigration because it is such a publicized issue, so it is the smarter political move.
I agree that keeping the US inside of the Afghanistan that is put would be ineffective. As at this point the US has spent about 20 years and not really accomplished a lot. Sure we have killed the leader of the terrorist group that caused the 9/11 attack. The removal of the troops will help the US prepare to fight in other front in your cold war with Russia and China
This final withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan has been a long time coming, and it will definitely be a positive for the US to no longer have so much manpower and resources tied down in the Middle East. However, I can't help but to think about the impact it will have on Afghanistan, and if their government will still be able to maintain control without as much support from the US as they had before. The Taliban and other insurgent groups haven't gone anywhere, and it remains to be seen whether the Afghan forces are capable of defeating them on their own. Stabilizing a country that has been at war for twenty years is difficult to say the least, and I fear that the US could be abandoning the Afghans to an impossible task. I don't think the US continuing to pour resources into Afghanistan would be helpful either though, so maybe withdrawing the troops is the lesser of two evils.
The U.S. is infamously known by other countries for being "too involved," especially when it comes to military and war. Nevertheless, with the attacks on the U.S. on 9/11, I think most would agree "extra precaution" by U.S. forces is justifiable. However, with so little progress with peace treaties and other efforts to lower tension, it's become clear that U.S. troops in Afghanistan is doing more harm than good. It's too costly and impractical compared to the minimal benefits our troops being there has. I respect Biden's promise, though, to continue providing military assistance and humanitarian aid to the Afghan government. This is because I feel it maintains the peace with Afghanistan, and America's honor as a country, as troops depart from the area.
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