Biden ends longest war in US history in Afghanistan: “Time to go home.”

WASHINGTON.- Determined to turn the page on the longest war in American history, President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan on September 11., after two decades of the worst attack in the country’s history. The move marks a shift in the White House’s foreign policy priorities, and reaffirms Biden’s intention to pay greater attention to his national agenda and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden’s announcement, who dismiss warnings from the Pentagon, the intelligence community and Republicans about the risk of a possible strengthening of the Taliban, civil war and a resurgence of terrorism through withdrawal, end the longest war in US history, which has cost more than two trillion dollars – the same amount Biden wants to invest in the country with his infrastructure plan to create a “green economy” -, and left 2,488 American soldiers killed, as well as tens of thousands of civilians. Michele Bachelet, United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, this year described Afghanistan as “one of the deadliest places in the world for a civilian”.

“It’s time to end America’s longest war. It is time for the troops to return home, ”Biden solemnly announced in a speech he delivered in the Treaty Room, the same location in the White House where George W. Bush announced the invasion ago. nearly two decades.

The withdrawal of North American troops was coordinated with the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, who participated in the 2001 invasion that aimed to remove the Taliban from power and dismantle the Al Qaeda terrorist network, led by Osama bin Laden, which carried out the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Biden and colleagues insisted the withdrawal is irreversible, and is not tied to any conditions in the field. Of the approximately 10,000 soldiers who remain in Afghanistan, approximately 2,500 are from the United States.

“We went together to Afghanistan and we are united to go together,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference following Biden’s speech.

Risk

Biden’s announcement is the riskiest move of his young presidency and, if it comes to fruition, it delivers on a promise his predecessor broke, Donald trump, before leaving the White House, and his former boss, Barack obama. Trump had promised to withdraw all soldiers by May of this year. Biden, convinced that a continued military presence in Afghanistan will have a harmless impact on the country’s future after two decades of advances, setbacks and conflict, said the United States could not stretch the decision “into l ‘hope of creating the ideal conditions for our withdrawal’, an implicit recognition of the limits of the West to distort the reality on the ground.

Biden said four presidents, two Democrats and two Republicans, had chaired a military presence, and he refused to transfer that responsibility to a fifth. Biden communicated the decision to Bush and Obama, who expanded the US military presence in Afghanistan before starting to reduce it, before the announcement. He hasn’t spoken to Trump.

“When is the right time to go out?” A year more? Two more years? Ten more years? Ten, twenty, thirty billion dollars more? Biden asked, noting that no one in the military or the intelligence community says you have to stay forever, but they still insist it’s a bad time to leave.

The White House also justified the decision that there is no longer a need to maintain a military presence in the country and “There is no military solution to the problems plaguing Afghanistan.” Washington must now reorient its influence on diplomatic efforts to reach a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Biden officials came up with an idea to cover up the withdrawal: The world is 2021, not 2001. Now the terrorist threat comes from Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia and other parts of Africa. , it is more “dispersed and distributed”. And the White House’s foreign policy priorities and challenges have changed. Biden wants to look at Russia, the rise of China and climate change.“We cannot look at it with the mindset of 2001. We have to look at it with the world of 2021,” President spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “The threats have changed,” he said.

The United States and NATO have pledged to continue to support the Afghan government and the country’s security forces, including humanitarian aid, recognizing that there is still a lot of violence in the country, and the Taliban will try to take advantage of the withdrawal. But at the same time, they made it clear that a “new chapter” was starting in Afghanistan’s relations with the West.

In Washington, Biden’s move drew fierce criticism from Republicans, who warned the move could destabilize the region and give al Qaeda and Islamic State the green light, in addition to bolstering the Iran and endanger the soldiers deployed in the country. The senator Lindsey grahamBiden’s longtime companion in the upper house, who year after year opposed the recall, was the main voice in the opposition offensive to the president’s decision. Graham asked to leave a “residual force”.

“There are no big options. Afghanistan is a complicated and dangerous place with no great options. President Biden has unfortunately chosen the riskier option, which is to leave no matter what, ”Graham said. “We are losing our insurance policy against a new September 11,” he added.