Afghanistan Was a Predictable, Preventable Disaste

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Nobody wanted a “forever war” in Afghanistan—I certainly didn’t. That’s why I supported then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, which conditioned the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan on the Taliban’s implementation of wide-ranging counterterrorism commitments. In the interim, Trump right-sized the U.S. force posture, reducing troop levels from roughly 12,000 service members in February 2020 to 2,500 service members (according to U.S. Defense Department numbers) by the time he left office—a sufficient presence for supporting the Afghan government’s security efforts and ensuring that the Taliban kept their end of the bargain.

After taking office, Biden undertook a superficial review of our Afghanistan policy—one that totally ignored the advice of his top military advisor and his commanders on the ground. On April 14, 2021, he reversed the Trump administration’s conditions-based drawdown policy and announced that all U.S. forces would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 of that year, whether or not the Taliban had met its commitments under the 2020 agreement.

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