Engaging the Americans February 9, 2021 The Biden Administration is less than a month old, but already it is knee-deep in the quicksand that is the American war in Afghanistan. A full US troop withdrawal by May 2020, which is the promise that the US has made with the Taliban in the Doha Agreement, is looking less and less likely. The Biden Administration is made up of numerous veterans of this war – both those that have fought on the battlefield, and those that have served previous administrations, especially Obama I and Obama II. For many that have experience in the Afghan war theater, the momentum of what they knew is likely greater than the momentum of what has taken place since 2016 in Afghanistan, or for that matter since 2018 in Doha. The American deep state has interests in maintaining a military presence in the South and Central Asia region, and the deteriorating US relationship with China further emboldens those that hold this view. Externalizing whatever burdens the US carries on other actors is a trick as old as the US invasion of Afghanistan that will turn 20 years old in October this year. Target number one? Pakistan. Let’s come back to Pakistan in a second.