Opinion | Why the US’ Afghanistan pull-out is the least bad choice
- Critics of Biden’s decision are many, but when it comes to defining ‘victory’ and how it might be accomplished, they have no clear answer
- The US has spent US$2 trillion on the war and lost about 2,500 personnel. Tens of thousands of Afghans have died. It is hard to justify a prolonged campaign
The criticism of Biden’s decision runs along a familiar set of lines. As US troops and ancillary personnel withdraw, the Afghan security forces will not benefit from American air support, the fledgling Afghan air force will soon lack the contractors to service its planes and, consequently, Taliban fighters will overwhelm Afghan ground troops.
Worse still, the critics argue that, as the Taliban wrap their tentacles around much of the countryside as well as the cities, they will wrest the hard-gotten gains of the past 20 years, undermining the rights of women and minorities and stifling any form of political dissent.
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Thousands flee as Taliban surges in Afghanistan
It is hardly beyond the realm of possibility that this dire scenario portrayed by critics may well come to pass. For all their protestations to the contrary, it is most unlikely that the Taliban have abandoned their retrograde ideology.