Betty mentioned this earlier, and I am hoping Adam will have a long discussion about it because he will know more than me, but it looks like we are FINALLY withdrawing from Afghanistan:
President Biden will withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan over the coming months, U.S. officials said, completing the military exit by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that drew the United States into its longest war.
The decision, which Biden is expected to announce Wednesday, will keep thousands of U.S. forces in the country beyond the May 1 exit deadline that the Trump administration negotiated last year with the Taliban, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters Tuesday under rules of anonymity set by the White House.
While the Taliban has promised to renew attacks on U.S. and NATO personnel if foreign troops are not out by the deadline — and said in a statement it would not continue to participate in “any conference” about Afghanistan’s future until all “foreign forces” have departed — it is not clear whether the militants will follow through with the earlier threats given Biden’s plan for a phased withdrawal between now and September. The Taliban has conducted sputtering talks with the Afghan government, begun under the Trump deal, since last fall. It was also invited to an additional high-level inter-Afghan discussion in Turkey later this month.
We’ve been there for 20 years. We have been there longer than this website has existed. Colleges and universities are filled with juniors and seniors who have lived their entire lives while we have been at war in Afghanistan. We have been there so long that stories of fathers and their children both being deployed at the same time are common.
In 1941, Hitler invaded Russia as Operation Barbarossa started. The Russians were decimated, knocked back on their heels, but in less than two years they rebuilt multiple armies and defeating the Nazis at the two most important battles in World War II, the battle for Stalingrad and the defense of the salient at Kursk.
We’ve had 20 years. Bin Laden is dead. Call it a win and leave.