Biden's Deal With The Devil in Afghanistan
President Biden is withdrawing United States troops from Afghanistan, in pursuit of a domestic partisan political victory. Opening the door for the Taliban to easily take control of the nation.
The withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan is absurd on its face. The U.S. currently has an extremely minimal number of military casualties in Afghanistan, compared to both a standard “war” in any other country or compared to our initial entry into Afghanistan after 9/11. Joe Biden has insinuated that “thousands” of U.S. troops will die in Afghanistan if the United States remains in the nation.1 In an attempt to paint those who oppose withdrawal as morally objectionable. This is patently absurd, and factually inaccurate. In 2020, 10 U.S. military service members were killed in Afghanistan, 4 of which were Killed in Action.2 Regardless, for Biden the facts do not matter, it is solely about preserving the false narrative, that the United States continues to see just as many military casualties in Afghanistan, as we did when we first entered the country.
Since Biden has made it clear that the United States plans to withdraw, the Taliban has effectively taken complete control over Afghanistan. It is widely known that this will lead to the re-enslaving of Afghan women, the slaughtering of women who attend school, and the execution of many innocent Afghan people. The Afghan government remains notoriously weak, and the Taliban has easily overpowered them, as predicted. This is a direct result of the Taliban being emboldened by the United States’ withdrawal.
President Biden’s argument that it should be up to the people of Afghanistan to decide on their government leaders, and not us, sounds fine on its face. Except for that, the people of Afghanistan will not have a choice after the United States leaves. The Afghan people do not want the Taliban to take control of the nation. Unfortunately, the Taliban has been able to overpower Afghanistan’s government. With the Taliban in control of the country, they will certainly do away with any remnants of democratic ideals. The Taliban will take the “choice of government” away from the people of Afghanistan. Biden is in effect saying that if the people of Afghanistan “choose” to be under the control of the Taliban, we must respect that. The flaw in this thought process is that this is not a choice the Afghan people are making. The Afghan people are not democratically electing the Taliban. The Taliban is forcefully taking control of Afghanistan, without any regard for the will of the people. Since the United States has been in Afghanistan, we have fostered elections in the country. Undoubtedly, those elections that took place were much more of a reflection of the Afghan people’s will than whatever happens while the nation is under the control of the Taliban.
Biden understands that his base of voters supports withdrawing from Afghanistan. According to a Politico-Morning Consult survey, 76% of Democrats support Biden’s plan to withdraw from Afghanistan.3 This is the main motivation for his decision. Any reasonable person who weighs the costs and benefits of withdrawing from Afghanistan, on a purely foreign policy level can see that remaining in the country is the clear-cut answer. Especially considering the relatively low cost to the United States fiscally or in terms of military casualties, and the benefit of being able to stop a terrorist organization from controlling Afghanistan. The United States looks completely foolish, standing by idly and while the Taliban take control of Afghanistan. Yet, Biden continues forward on his plan to withdraw United States troops. This is because his goal here isn’t a military strategy or foreign policy, rather, he is in search of domestic political success, no matter the costs.
The Taliban’s march toward full control of Afghanistan picked up rapidly in the last few weeks, as the United States nears full withdrawal from the nation. As of July 4th, 2021, the Taliban controlled one-third of Afghanistan’s districts and district centers.4 As of July 21st, the Taliban controlled half of Afghanistan.5 As of August 11th, the Taliban controlled two-thirds of Afghanistan.6 As of yesterday, August 15th, the Taliban effectively took control of the entire country of Afghanistan. After Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.7 The Taliban rapidly marched toward total control of the nation, right in the face of President Biden and his administration. To make matters even worse, President Biden is engaging in negotiations with the Taliban.8 Biden is offering foreign aid to the Taliban in exchange for assurances that they will not destroy the United States embassy in Afghanistan.
This asinine decision by Joe Biden to continue forward with the withdrawal is completely embarrassing the United States on the international stage. He has exacerbated this by actively negotiating with the Taliban, offering them money to not destroy the United States’ embassy. Biden is ceding the country to a terrorist organization and is going to get many innocent Afghan people killed - all in the pursuit of domestic partisan political gains. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need to leave U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But the reality is we must maintain troops in Afghanistan to keep the Taliban in check. Unfortunately, at this point due to the Taliban’s takeover, even re-deploying our troops to Afghanistan is no longer enough. Active boots on the ground combat against the Taliban, is going to be required to reverse the terrorist organization’s newly acquired control.
Garrett Gillespie is an accomplished political science student at the University of Central Florida. He is a senior, graduating in fall 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Gillespie is a member of both the Pi Sigma Alpha and the Tau Sigma honor societies.
The Washington Weekly Update is a weekly opinion piece written by Garrett Gillespie. Subscribe to receive the newest edition each week, and follow @TheWashingtonWeekly on Instagram.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/thats-it-its-over-afghan-president-and-core-team-flown-out-of-afghanistan
https://nypost.com/2021/08/12/us-reportedly-negotiating-with-taliban-to-avoid-embassy-attack/