: Biden’s Decision To Quit Afghanistan a Year Ago Was—and Still Is—the Right Call #WorldNEWS One year ago today, the Taliban, which spent the previous 20 years trying to evict the U. S. -backed

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Biden’s Decision To Quit Afghanistan a Year Ago Was—and Still Is—the Right Call #WorldNEWS
One year ago today, the Taliban, which spent the previous 20 years trying to evict the U. S. -backed Afghan government from power, succeeded in doing just that. With U. S. forces on their way out and Afghan troops struggling to hold off a rapid Taliban advance, the group strolled into Kabul unopposed. President Ashraf Ghani went into exile the same day, and tens of thousands of Afghans who didn’t have the luxury of their own personal aircraft would rush toward Kabul international airport in a desperate attempt to flee.
Unsurprisingly, the anniversary of the Taliban’s first year in power has generated a fair share of reflection. The U. S. government is undergoing multiple inter-agency reviews about what went wrong. But comments from former U. S. commanders of the war deserve particular scrutiny because some still believe the better alternative was to stay.
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In television appearances and essays, Ret. General David Petraeus, a highly decorated four-star commander who led U. S. forces in Afghanistan during the U. S. troop surge of 2010-2011, insists President Biden should have managed, not quit, the war. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who commanded U. S. forces in the Middle East during the Taliban takeover, had a similar take. Asked what his recommendation to the President was in those tension-filled weeks, McKenzie said he advised approximately 2,500 U. S. troops should stay in Afghanistan “indefinitely” to stave off a collapse.
Neither of these recommendations were sound policy then—or today. Whether it was Gen. William Westmoreland in Vietnam, Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq or Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan, commanders tasked with winning a war always believe they can salvage the situation if they have more resources. Policymakers, though, have a responsibility to see the bigger picture, weigh the costs and benefits of a proposed action, and determine whether it ultimately serves the U. S. national security interest.
Even before the Taliban captured Kabul, the Afghan state depended on foreign donors for about three-quarters of its budget. The Afghan army was totally reliant on the U. S. for everything from ammunition and weapons to air support and logistics. Afghanistan veteran Elliot Ackerman referred to it as a “plywood army,” a force with massive systemic problems the U. S. simply couldn’t resolve. Though countless Afghan troops have fought heroically for their country, far too many of them were being taken off the battlefield. Some 69,000 Afghan security forces died in the 20-year conflict, according to estimates by Brown University’s Cost of War project, and thousands more were wounded.

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