Withdrawing from Afghanistan suddenly became too risky

 

Withdrawing from Afghanistan suddenly became too risky

President Joe Biden's exit from the Afghanistan war has been marred by rapid Taliban gains that threaten to turn fulfillment of his famous campaign promise into a political responsibility.

Administration officials say their hands were tied to a bad deal that their predecessors negotiated but did not implement. But critics faulted the speed of the withdrawal and the withdrawal process. They questioned the efforts of Biden's team to broker a compromise between Afghan forces and the Taliban while major cities fall into the hands of rebel leaders.

By Wednesday night, Biden and his top national security advisers found themselves contemplating the worsening conditions inside the country. Within hours, the president, who has stuck to his decision since his announcement in April, called in troops to help withdraw US embassy staff and Afghan allies. The decision was criticized almost immediately because it appeared to have capitulated to Taliban forces. 

" Biden administration has reduced US officials' call for Islamic extremists to spare our embassy as they prepare to take control of Kabul," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement. The Kentucky Republican called the negotiations a "diplomatic carrot" and likened the progress to the "humiliating fall of Saigon in 1975."

One analyst believed Biden's decision was a money-making move, telling the Washington Examiner that "there is no reason to evacuate [the US embassy] early."

"At this point, I think they are trying to load the bad press upfront," this person said. "I agreed to opt-out, but that was a great offer."

On Friday, the White House in Wilmington, Delaware, briefed Biden on "ongoing efforts to reduce the civilian footprint in Afghanistan safely," the White House said Friday.

The withdrawal remains an excellent political move for Biden. Their top advisers have promised to introduce a "middle-class foreign policy" that would end "eternal wars" and prioritize the economic interests of the middle class.

A poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs from July 6 to 26 showed that 70% of voters surveyed said combat troops should leave the country by 9/11. According to a Quinnipiac University poll in May, 62% agreed with Biden's September 11 deadline. , up to four percentage points from April, when the Economist/YouGov poll said 58% support him.

"It's a deal we inherited," State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week, accusing the administration that former President Donald Trump obstructed the administration and that violating his agreement would lead to Taliban attacks on American forces. It was to be withdrawn based on terms that were essentially taken off the table.

Biden defense officials said the terms are also partly inherited. "We saw the Taliban make progress even before the Biden administration took office," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing Friday. "We saw the Taliban make progress at the district level before the president made his decision."

"Biden administration went through the rest of the withdrawal because it decided it was in its best interest," said Adam Weinstein, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Good Governance who served as a Marine and deployed to Afghanistan in 2012.