On May 1, U.S. may face an “entirely new war.”
By Doug BANDOW
The seemingly eternal war in Afghanistan continues. American forces have been on station for nearly 20 years, longer than the Mexican-American War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and Korean War combined.
Some $2 trillion have been spent. More than 6,000 U.S. service members and contractors have died, along with roughly 1,100 allied soldiers. Many more have been wounded, some suffering crippling injuries. Absent a speedy exit, those numbers will continue upward.
The U.S. is supposed to leave Afghanistan on May 1, the timetable agreed to by the Taliban. However, at his recent press conference President Joe Biden essentially admitted that American forces won’t be leaving then. He expressed hope that they would not be there next year.
Antiwar.com Original
The U.S. is approaching its 20-year mark in the Afghan civil war. Intervening after 9/11, Washington speedily crippled al-Qaeda and ousted the Taliban. Alas, three successive administrations found it much harder to bring strong central government and Westminster-style democracy to Central Asia. So American military personnel remain on station. Like in the Hotel California, it appears that Americans can check out but never leave.
Even many hawks gave up justifying the war on humanitarian grounds, preferring to talk about the importance of staying to fight terrorism or achieve other ends. However, Ronald E. Neumann, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, took up the challenge of justifying nation-building. He asked: At this time,
I recently read a statement made by a NATO official when asked about a possible NATO withdrawal he said that NATO would depart when there was more stability in the country. Seriously? After 20 years and the Taleban controls about 52% of the country..when would this stability miraculously appear? The SecDef made it clear that…
The Federal Reserve repeated in minutes of its January meeting released on Wednesday that fiscal and monetary policy in a pandemic cannot by themselves throttle a pathogen. It will take ample supplies of vaccines and herd immunity to return to the “before” times. Vaccines, masks and social distancing, mixed with aid from Congress, could improve the economic outlook, according to the nation’s central bank (The Washington Post).
Ahead is a fast-moving legislative timeline as the House returns to Washington next week eager to adopt by the end of February a relief blueprint that mirrors the president’s plan. Racing to get ahead of expiring unemployment relief programs, Democrats hope to clear a mammoth bill by mid-March in the Senate without losing a single Democratic vote. Easier said than done.