The Biden Administration has announced plans to remove the remaining 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan by September 11th 2021, the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which instigated America’s longest war in history.
The move comes after an agreement made between the United States and the Taliban in early 2020 which negotiated that American troops were to evacuate Afghanistan by May 1st 2021 if the Taliban pledged for less violence and agreed to cut ties with al-Qaeda.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Biden described “the way forward in Afghanistan”, pledging that whilst America plans to bring an end to military action in the region, ‘our diplomatic and humanitarian work will continue.’
Preempting criticism of the move – which indeed did materialise in the form of Republican Mitch McConnell’s condemnation of the decision as a ‘grave mistake’ – Biden claimed that military presence in Afghanistan has ‘never proved effective – not even when we had 98,000 troops in Afghanistan, and not when we were down to a few thousand.’
The US sent 100,000 troops into Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11, and the war has persisted, as Biden noted, through the terms of four presidential terms: two Democrats, two Republicans. Biden himself opposed Obama’s “surge” in the conflict during his first term in office, and has a strong history of wanting to put an end to violence in the region.
Pledging ‘not to pass this responsibility onto a fifth’, Biden stated his intention to refine ‘national strategy to monitor and disrupt significant terrorist threats not only in Afghanistan, but anywhere they may arise – and they’re in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.’
Biden hopes to use diplomatic negotiation, rather than coercive force, to secure an Afghanistan that will never again be susceptible to control by international terrorist groups. Indeed, as the Taliban see Isis as an enemy, rather than an ally, there is a chance his hopes could ultimately transpire.
But Biden has been warned by his intelligence committee that the Taliban could regain control in the region within 2-3 years. In the wake of Biden’s conference, CIA Director William J. Burns said that the withdrawal comes with ‘significant risk’: ‘Both al-Qaeda and Isis remain intent on recovering the ability to attack U.S. targets, whether it’s in the region in the west, or ultimately in the homeland.’ Burns qualified this remark, however, stating that ‘After years of sustained counterterrorism pressure, the reality is that neither of them has that capacity today.’
America’s NATO allies have also agreed to remove troops from the region. NATO currently have 9,600 troops officially in Afghanistan, and have stated that the process of removing soldiers will begin on May 1st and will be complete ‘within a few months.’
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken claimed that the withdrawal of troops does not mean an end to humanitarian support, although his remarks only concentrated on anti-terrorism efforts, making no mention of NATO’s efforts in the education and liberation of women and girls, amongst other things. Blinken stated that ‘we have achieved the goals we set out to achieve… now it’s time to bring our forces home.’
800,000 American veterans have served in Afghanistan since 2001. Craig M Mullaney, who led troops in Afghanistan, wrote a moving reflection for The Guardian, describing the deep-rooted sense of ambivalence regarding the decision to remove troops, especially as after twenty years there has been no tangible sense of outcome in terms of victory and loss: ‘It’s fair to ask whether the end of the war affects how one views his or her small role in the effort. If we didn’t “win”, whatever winning means in a war like this, did we matter? Were the sacrifices in vain?’
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