If the United States has been unable to defeat the Taliban or produce stability in Afghanistan after 20 years of seeking to impose our will, why do people think we can or should be able to after we recognize our failure and leave?
Our problem in Afghanistan was the mission was not well-defined or realistic. It was the latest in a long line of examples of superpower hubris. Joe Biden realized that long ago and tried to make the case to President Obama who did not accept his arguments back in 2009.
Biden is doing what should have been done long ago by pulling out. He recognizes that our experience with having a small force there for years proves that cannot advance us toward what was impossible to achieve when we had a big force there.
He should be thanked for having the wisdom to honor our troops by recognizing the value of our lives and not sacrificing them to impossible goals and to honor the people of Afghanistan by acknowledging that only they can or should determine their own future.
For all these reasons and centuries of history, not only should Biden's decision be respected, but we should acknowledge that what happens after our last troops leave is not Biden's fault. That is not to say we should not and he should not use all the tools at our disposal...
...to lead a multilateral effort to help Afghanistan achieve a better future and to apply all the non-military incentives and pressure possible to protect the human rights of its citizens, especially its girls and women. There is still a role the world can constructively play.
But the lesson of Afghanistan should be one of recognizing the limitations of our own power and that we must be wiser about the allocation of our resources and the setting of our goals worldwide.
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