Pulling out of Afghanistan: a “mystifying” decision
President Trump’s foreign policy doctrine – a mixture of isolationism and occasional violent interventions – has never made much sense, said Max Boot in The Washington Post. And it’s becoming no more coherent in the dying days of his administration. Last week, Trump reportedly asked senior advisers about options for attacking Iran’s main nuclear site at Natanz. Yet at the same time, he also ordered the return of more than half the US troops in Afghanistan, reducing their number from 4,500 to 2,500. The order left analysts “mystified”, said Fred Kaplan on Slate. In peace talks earlier this year, after all, Trump’s own negotiating team agreed to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan by May 2021, provided the Taliban stopped fighting the Kabul government and turned its fire on al-Qa’eda. What chance is there of the Taliban playing ball, now that Trump has made clear that the US is “getting out of there, regardless of conditions on the ground”?
This pull-out is both “rushed and self-serving”, said the Los Angeles Times. Trump acted after firing secretary of defence Mark Esper, who reportedly warned against the move, citing continued violence, potential dangers to remaining troops and an adverse effect on peace talks. This should have been a decision for President-elect Joe Biden, who, like Trump, has talked of ending “forever wars”. And it should have been made after careful consideration, following consultation with allies. Some analysts believe it’s a deliberate attempt to sabotage Biden’s presidency, said Nicole Gaouette on CNN, perhaps aimed at helping Trump win back the White House in 2024.
Whatever the motives behind it, it’s the right move, said William Ruger and Rajan Menon in The Washington Post. The US has been in Afghanistan for almost 20 years now, at a cost of the lives of more than 2,300 US service members and about $1trn. Successive administrations have sought in vain to bring peace to the country. There’s no chance of the Taliban making any more big concessions at this point. They’ve shown they’re willing to fight for longer and die in larger numbers than the US is prepared to do, and they have the momentum. In the end, only Afghans can determine their future. Americans are divided on many matters, but not on this. “They will overwhelmingly welcome a decision to end the war in Afghanistan – regardless of whom they voted for on election day.”