By: David Min
The Need to Pull Troops from the “Forever War”
“I’m now the fourth United States President to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth…It’s time for American troops to come home,” United States President Joe Biden proclaimed from the White House’s Treaty Room on April 14. With this announcement, the Biden Administration began the process of bringing home all 2,500 U.S. troops currently stationed in Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks. This withdrawal will beat the May 1 deadline made by the Trump administration in 2020. Soon after Biden’s announcement, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Jens Stoltenberg followed suit and announced the withdrawal of 7,000 NATO troops. The process raises larger questions regarding the ethics of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The U.S. has spent an extreme amount of American financial and human capital on stabilizing the country after toppling the Taliban government. Nonetheless, when a solution has not worked for two decades, a change of course is necessary. In withdrawing from the war, the U.S. must be cautious and be prepared for the potential return of the Taliban and subsequent curtailing of human rights.
For the past two decades, American taxpayer money has been used to fund a prolonged war on the other side of the world. The initial cause for the war was just. In response to the September 11 terror attacks, the US set out with a goal of significantly weakening and subduing terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda, was accomplished. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a main target of the war, was killed in Pakistan in 2011. Analysts say that terrorist organizations in Afghanistan no longer pose a direct threat to the U.S.. However, the U.S.’ decision to remain in the country has been problematic to Americans abroad, at home and to the Afghani people. While gaining the reputation as America’s longest war, the armed conflict has cost around $2 trillion and almost 2,400 American lives. At the war’s peak of troop and financial expenditure in 2011, the U.S. had deployed around 110,000 troops to Afghanistan; between the years 2010 and 2012, the U.S. was spending an annual amount of almost $100 billion. The Afghani armed forces have lost over 64,100 service members since the beginning of the war. While it was important for U.S. soldiers to remain in the country in order to help achieve stability in the region, prolonged military intervention has failed in this regard. Regardless of their efforts, the Taliban continue to have a considerable amount of influence in the country. Thus, from an economic standpoint, the U.S. must stop spending trillions of dollars on a war that has continuously failed to achieve national unity as well as stability.
It is important to note that the removal of troops does not mean the removal of aid and assistance. Biden has pledged to support the Afghani government with diplomatic and humanitarian support, believing that those would be more effective options than military intervention in healing the nation. However, the potential threats in the region should not be neglected, especially considering that the Taliban has announced their disapproval of the decision to move the withdrawal deadline to September 11 from the previously-decided deadline of May 1. While the decision to remove troops will likely be most productive at this point in time, the Biden Administration must continue to use its soft power and hold the Taliban accountable for the peace agreements they have made with both the U.S. and Afghani governments. While monitoring the state of Afghanistan, U.S. naval and military outposts in the region should be on alert. With the Taliban’s track-record of human rights violations, it is imperative for the U.S. to be on alert for any countermeasures or counter-reforms that the Taliban may take.
- Joe Biden announces the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021
Deployed U.S. troops will arrive home in December of 2021
The total deployment of U.S. military and contracted forces