FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 20, 2021
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, President Biden addressed the nation to speak about the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan. Defense Priorities Fellow Daniel DePetris issued the following statement in response:
“The scenes from the airport in Kabul are heart-wrenching. While the U.S. evacuation process has been less than ideal, the case for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan is just as strong today as it was over a decade ago. There are no longer any vital U.S. interests at stake.
“The reality is no amount of U.S. military commitment can compensate for a weak, corrupt Afghan government that lost the confidence of its own army. History has long since shown that U.S.-led state-building in Afghanistan was an abject failure and should have never been tried.
“President Biden faced a simple choice. He could end U.S. involvement in a decades-long civil war that had no U.S. solution. Or he could rip up the February 2020 Doha agreement and keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The former was a long overdue recognition of closing the book on 20 years of bad policy. The latter would have resulted in a resumption of Taliban attacks on Americans, increasing U.S. casualties and tempting further U.S. escalation. Biden deserves credit for making the right choice.”
Defense Priorities report: Exiting Afghanistan
Defense Priorities explainer: Scenarios for a post-U.S. Afghanistan
Defense Priorities explainer: Now is the optimal time to exit Afghanistan