FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 14, 2021
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, President Biden announced all U.S. combat troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. Defense Priorities experts issued the following statements in response:
Benjamin H. Friedman, Policy Director, Defense Priorities:
“The situation in Afghanistan in September will be the same as it would be if U.S. troops stayed for another year, five years, or a decade. The Afghan government depends on American tax dollars, cannot arrest Taliban gains, let alone defeat it, and thus cannot make it capitulate in peace talks. It’s past time to stop throwing good money and lives after bad aims.”
Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, USA, Ret., Senior Fellow, Defense Priorities:
“At the time of the February 2020 agreement expressly calling for a full withdrawal by May, the U.S. had approximately 13,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan. Trump withdrew over 10,000 of them before he left office, so the remaining load to withdraw is limited. Closing down a military installation is never easy, but there is no question the U.S. military can successfully withdraw all troops and close down or hand over all remaining facilities between now and September 11.”
Gil Barndollar, Senior Fellow, Defense Priorities:
“President Biden should be applauded for finally breaking with the ‘conditions-based’ language that promised an endless American commitment to the war in Afghanistan. Of course, Afghanistan’s civil war will continue. The important question is how that affects vital U.S. national interests in the country, of which there is really only one: preventing Afghanistan from becoming a staging ground for transnational terrorist attacks on the United States.”
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