In a piece at RealClearWorld Daniel Davis effectively refutes Adm. Stavridis’s argument to maintain a force in Afghanistan indefinitely, cited here last week:
Many supporters of keeping U.S. troops indefinitely fighting in Afghanistan claim – with some justification – that we cannot trust the Taliban’s promises and base our security on mere words. Washington should never entrust our security to promises given by any adversary. Fortunately, American national security is secured by our own, powerful intelligence and military capacity.
The U.S. military has the ability to identify emerging or imminent threats against our country and then to project combat power anywhere on the globe to conduct a direct, targeted strike against the target. The U.S. government has demonstrated this capability in several high-profile strikes in recent years, including taking out al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2013 and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019.
This same unblinking intelligence-strike capability already keeps the U.S. safe from terror attacks, no matter where in the world the threat may materialize. We do not need combat troops permanently on the ground in Afghanistan in order to strike at threats to our country that may arise from there.
The best thing the Biden Administration can do after it completes its assessment of the 2020 agreement with the Taliban is to remain on schedule and complete the military withdrawal by May. The problems in Afghanistan are only going to be resolved by the parties that must live with the results. Keeping American troops beyond May will only extend our military futility and do nothing to focus the two sides on reaching a negotiated settlement.
To that I would add that Adm. Stravidis completely ignored the extent to which our continuing military presence in Afghanistan is a rallying cry and recruiting tool for terrorism. It’s possible that the harm we do by remaining would exceed the benefit to the American people. The benefits are primarily to the ruling regime in Kabul and secondarily to Afghan women but that’s a different subject.
The smart guys will always lead us to believe that there are nuanced strategic objectives that require us to stay once we’re in.
Look at this a different way, have we ever left anywhere completely without being physically thrown out?
Not that I can think of.