With the May 1 pullout date fast approaching, President Biden seems reluctant to state his actual intentions on Afghanistan. On the one hand, he says the May 1 deadline is hard to reach, but that he also “can’t picture” US troops staying beyond next year.
Those two positions combined might put the US pullout date sometime after May 1 but before 2022. If it was that simple, however, one would expect that Biden would say as much, instead of just reiterating what he doesn’t expect to do.
This gives the same impression that Biden has given on Afghanistan since taking office, that he intends to avoid making a decision for as long as possible, and avoid any political fallout with congressional hawks who’d just as soon keep the troops there.
Since making his own peace deal, President Trump had the US ahead of pace on the pullout, but having come short of finishing it by Biden’s inauguration, he left an estimated 2,500 US troops there to be withdrawn.
A small number of troops means it’s a comparatively small expense to the US, and some in Congress, like Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) are expressing comfort with just leaving the troop level as it is.
Biden would avoid fights with Congress that way, but moving beyond May will be seen as a challenge to the Taliban. Taliban officials warn that any delay is unacceptable, and that they want the US pulled out on time.
As this is going on, the US proposed a deal between Afghan government and Taliban, including an interim government. The US seems to have made this proposal to tamp down Taliban anger about the pullout delay, and to argue that the peace deal needs time serves as a justification, of sorts, for the US delays.
Yet this is an empty proposal too. With the Ghani government already having ruled out an interim government, they quickly rejected the US plan, leaving that as another open-ended question about how things might shake out.
This all leaves us totally in the dark about US intentions. This could perhaps be likened to Trump’s position in 2017, when he avoided taking a position for months before deciding on a new surge. Biden seems similarly inclined toward anything that keeps the war going, but the appearances are that he’s dragging out any announcements to avoid making it into an issue.
It will be interesting and instructive to see how the Taliban respond to the U.S. foot dragging. Major Danny says the Tallinn have surrounded several key cities & areas, and that the unraveling of the intervention will be swift & decisive. More like day’s or weeks, not months & monthe or years. Time will tell, but not very much time….antiwar.com commentator Jahadi John says: So much for how long the puppet warlord regime would last, unless the Taliban defer an all out offensive long enough to give the Amerikastani imperialists a face saving period, “it will be over in 18 days, not 18 months!!!!?”
Our creation………………someone has to shut down the lab.
We who hesitate are lost…
Assuming Biden is in charge, is the fundamental mistake.
Endless war continues. They will be there until 2024 at least.
Try 3024.
Ike warned everybody : “Our toil, resources, and
livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society. In
the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the
military-industrial complex.”
2,500 troops but 20,000 “Contractors”.
Well, Pentagon contractors will remain in Afghanistan indefinitely even though troops leave by May 1st. Afghanistan is full of resources and US have been looting it for a long time and they cannot let go…! Not to mention that cia capturing part of the Afghan opium money business…! Another deal broken by US just like the Iran nuclear agreement…!
Africa has lithium. And other stuff. Where other countries have stuff that is out “interest”, we will pop up to create a mess.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the same might happen as in Vietnam in 1975 when we witnessed on our TVs the sudden chaotic flight of the last remaining Americans in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)when they were plucked of the roof by helicopters of the US embassy there.