Give Joe Biden Credit for Withdrawing from Afghanistan

U.S. Airmen conduct a foreign object and debris walk on the flight line at Bagram Airfield, Parwan province, Afghanistan, Dec. 8, 2013. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Kayla Newman, U.S. Air Force/Released)

President Joe Biden has done something his three predecessors could not accomplish. On July 6, AP reported that American troops had left the influential Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. The withdrawal marked the symbolic end of the United States’s two-decade presence in the country. Only a nominal group of 1,000 troops will remain to protect the U.S. embassy and the airport in Kabul. The Taliban has taken advantage. It quickly started to gain territory and has made it clear that it hopes to retake the entire country. Joe Biden has dismissed concerns about this troubling development, pointing to the failure of American nation-building up to this point.

There was a clear reason that the war in Afghanistan dragged on for as long as it did. The chances of victory remained slim. Afghanistan’s central government was always weak, and its main opponent, the Taliban, continued to grow in strength and occupy more territory. But Afghanistan was able to retain a single leader, Hamid Karzai, for thirteen years, which pointed to some stability. Even though he was corrupt, Karzai left office voluntarily like presidents do in a stable democracy. Obama held out hope that more troops and a different mission would change conditions on the ground. In addition, the possibility of a treaty between the central government and the Taliban kept hope alive for a resilient, non-Islamist Afghan state.

At the same time, both Obama and Trump knew that withdrawal from Afghanistan could lead to a tragic, total, and well-publicized defeat of the Afghan government. The fall would be interpreted, like the fall of Saigon or the rise of ISIS, as an ultimate failure of the American government and the American military. Like most other politicians, Obama and Trump decided to prioritize short-term considerations and extend the war indefinitely. They could always point to the possibility of either an eventual victory or a peace treaty to justify continued American involvement.

Joe Biden has rejected this mindset entirely. He has been a supporter of withdrawal from Afghanistan for years. With this decision, he is prioritizing the safety of American troops over his own political considerations. There would be no punishment for keeping American troops in the country for years with the vain hope of defeating the Taliban or forming a robust Afghan state. Instead, Biden is risking a Saigon moment. He is placing an ideal prized by the left over the considerations of the foreign policy establishment. In effect, Biden is taking the responsibility for ending America’s longest war entirely on himself. He is acting like we think every president should act.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan should be praised by the entirety of the American political media. Politicians on the right and the left have criticized what is known as the blob, the all-consuming group of bipartisan consultants and politicians who have thwarted any attempt at narrowing down American influence abroad. They have criticized the money spent on foreign wars, the worsening of America’s reputation abroad, and the human and social toll of decades of war. Those on the left frequently praise Barbara Lee as the only member of Congress to vote against the war in Afghanistan. They propelled Barack Obama to the presidency partially because of his opposition to the Iraq War. Joe Biden’s decision on withdrawal from Afghanistan is just as admirable as those previous actions and should be treated accordingly.

The nation is still locked to a certain degree in the War on Terror framework. There are regular drone strikes abroad. The prison at Guantanamo Bay is still open and holding detainees. Future interventions such as those in Yemen and Libya could happen any day and with the slightest provocation. There is still work to be done in drawing down America’s war presence from the early 2000s. Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was an important step. If he is punished politically for the move, it may be the last drawdown the nation has for the foreseeable future.

This piece first appeared in Medium