Biden says U.S. war in Afghanistan will end August 31

[SouthBayDem]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday said the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31, saying “speed is safety” as the United States seeks to end the nearly 20-year war.

“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech to update his administration’s ongoing efforts to wind down the U.S. war in Afghanistan. “Afghan leaders have to come together and drive toward a future.”

Biden also amplified the justification of his decision to end U.S. military operations even as the Taliban make rapid advances in significant swaths of the country.

The effort to further explain his thinking on Afghanistan comes as the administration in recent days has repeatedly sought to frame ending the conflict as a decision that Biden made after concluding it’s an “unwinnable war” and one that “does not have a military solution.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-afghanistan-government-and-politics-86f939c746c7bc56bb9f11f095a95366

[Warpy]

1. he's right, but he's going to be slammed for letting the Taliban back in

by people who don't realize Afghanistan does not belong to us. I don't know what it will take for that to penetrate all those cement lined imperialist skulls, but there it is.

Yes, they'll fight a war against each other. Yes, we will not like what comes ouit of it, that's a guarantee. However, it was never our choice and the longer we stay, the more determined they will be to erase every scrap of westernism there.

We should have left when we whacked Bin Laden and ruined all his training infrastructure, honestly.

[maxsolomon]

8. We didn't kill OBL in Afghanistan - it was in Pakistan years later.

We could have chosen to leave after Tora Bora, yes.

The Taliban were pushed out in 2002; now they'll be back in charge. Think they've learned a lesson about harboring Terrorist groups? I have my doubts.

[Warpy]

15. Contacts in Afghanistan allowed the US to trace him

I think I can guarantee we won't like whoever moves into the government there when we leave.

They might find it necessary to retreat back into the thirteenth century to purge themselves of all western influences. If we leave them alone, it is unlikely to last long. Kabul was a modern city before the Russians fouled things up. It can be again.

However, once Bin Laden was dead and his training infrastructure destroyed, our job was done. We should have left then. Will another rich Saudi or other scumbag pop up? Oh, count on it. Our best hope is that he isn't as wily as Bin Laden was and that we learned a lesson in a 20 year quagmire: get in, get rid of the threat, get out.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. IIRC, one of the reasons the christofascists voted for the Pig was he was going to get us out.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I'll leave this here - something popularly posted on DU back in the day

[pwb]

4. We hate to leave our Wars.

This one is a new record of money wasted.

[Deminpenn]

5. Biden's right. This war is no more winnable than the one

in VN we left nearly 50 years ago. As soon as the US left, South VN and its army collapsed and the North Vietnamese easily reunited the country under their rule. It's going to be the same ending in Afghanistan, too except with the Taliban playing the role of NVN.

[onetexan]

11. Spot on. I'm glad POTUS is ending this war & pulling troops out sooner than later. The Afghans will

need to decide to fight Taliban rule if they don't want it. The US cannot nation build where we are not wanted. Damn GOP misled the country to go into Afghanistan in the first place. It's time a Dem POTUS ends the nightmare.

[Deminpenn]

14. Thinking about Afghans who don't want to live under

strict religious rule makes one rueful, but there have been 20 years for them to figure out an exit plan. I do believe the US owes it to Afghans and their families who helped our military to help them leave and resettle elsewhere or here in the US if they choose.

Maybe in the end, it will better to have a consolidated government. Then the world will know with whom to engage. It will be different for taliban leaders once they are in charge and responsible for governing. The world can slap economic and financial sanctions on them when needed to change their behavior. And perhaps the State Dept will finally seriously engage to resolve the root problem of India vs Pakistan.

[onetexan]

18. Great points

[Politicub]

6. If the world really gave a damn about Afghanistan, there would be an ongoing UN Peacekeeping force.

The American occupation is unsustainable. A UN force would probably be unsustainable, too, but the U.S. should not be expected to fix the country or shoulder the burden alone.

I don't think the Taliban is redeemable, honestly. They're a force that is hostile to humanity, and I don't think society is equipped to deal with them. There's no good answer -- only a hellscape.

[maxsolomon]

9. A sizeable occupying force might have made a difference.

Cooperation, not sabotage, from Pakistan's ISI might have made a difference.

Now, the Refugee Crisis.

[IronLionZion]

16. The country that had Bin Laden living comfortably for years

is clearly not America's ally

[peppertree]

7. How history repeats itself

First as tragedy,



then as farce.

[IronLionZion]

10. He's making the right decision

20 years is enough. GOP will blame him for the Taliban of course as if Bush didn't exist. But the Taliban isn't much of a threat to Americans at home.

[onetexan]

19. precisely; the Con ran on the pullout but didn't do it. MoJoe had to do it for him.

>$1 trillion dollars was the cost of the war, not to mention the countless lives shattered and lost. This is the work of the GOP. Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld have blood on their hands. The GOP will try to pin this one on Biden but it won't work.

[OnlinePoker]

12. And the Taliban will have control of the whole country by Thanksgiving.

The lives and lucre lost in this boondoggle have been a complete waste.

[mac2766]

13. Good, and it's about time.

I didn't even read the post, just the title.

We need to end the endless, useless, meaningless, money suck for the super-rich. We need to stop throwing money to the wealthy. Of course... maybe they've finally decided that they've made enough.....

LOL... Like they will ever think that they've pilfered enough public money.

[trof]

17. 1. We should never have gone in there the way we did.

Yes, ferret out Bin Laden, but not make it a countrywide excursion.
2. Sooner or later some president would have to draw the line on an impossible situation.
3. Unhappily it came on Biden's watch.
Somebody had to end our involvement and 'we' (Democrats) get to be the 'bad' guys (according to the repugs.).

'We' have absolutely no business and no hope of success in 'democratizing' anywhere in the middle east. We are working against centuries of conflict that we can in no way bring to a conclusion.

A bad end to a bad decision.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Here's video of his complete announcement from today:

Biden Announces US Military Mission In Afghanistan Will End August 31 - MSNBC
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017666288