8 April 2022

THE WISDOM OF U.S. MILITARY WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN

ANDREW DORIS

The defining decision of President Joe Biden’s first year of foreign policy was the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, where America fought its longest war from 2001 to 2021.

By the end of this time, the costs of continued war outweighed any strategic or humanitarian interest the United States had left in the country. This explainer accounts for these costs then compares them to the war’s alleged benefits to show why withdrawing from Afghanistan was necessary, beneficial, and overdue.

Amid heartbreaking scenes at Kabul airport, several prominent critics argued the United States should have sustained a “light footprint” to “support American allies,” just as it does all over the world.1 After all, U.S. forces have been in Germany, Japan, and South Korea for more than 70 years.2 Should the United States have been equally patient in Afghanistan?3

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