No Plowshares or Pruning Hooks Yet
When the last US Air Force flight left Kabul last month, it did not mark the end of war as a human institution. Turning our “…swords into plowshares and…spears into pruning hooks…,” will require more years than most of us alive today are likely to see. That flight did signal the end of America’s direct involvement in a costly conflict that had gone on far too long without any meaningful resolution in sight. It leaves the United States in better shape to address serious threats to our nation interest in other corners of the world.
Because our involvement in Afghanistan extended over a twenty-year period and because only about 1 percent of Americans are serving in our volunteer military today, the general public’s awareness of the conflict remained muted. Successive administrations and the Congress were complicit in this stealthiness by failing to pay for our involvement with new taxes. They have just allowed the two trillion dollars to be added to the national debt.
During the 2020 presidential campaign Joe Biden promised to change the policy and end our military presence in Afghanistan. He argued that our, “…mission was accomplished in that we got Osama bin Laden (2011) and terrorism is not emanating from that part of the world.”
President Biden has been consistent about Afghanistan over time. As vice president under Obama, he argued unsuccessfully for a small counterterrorism effort instead of an expanded military intervention. During the 2020 presidential campaign Biden promised to end that intervention. In his view, the US accomplished its mission “in that we got Osama bin Laden and terrorism is not emanating from that part of the world.”
In all probability Biden acted more quickly that he might have preferred because of the agreement his predecessor signed with the Taliban in February 2020. That arrangement, negotiated without the participation of the Afghan government, called for a US exit by May 1, 2021. When Biden announced his withdrawal decision in April, he pushed the exit date back to September 11. He made another adjustment after consulting his military commanders, moving the exit date to August 31.
When Biden’s decision became apparent in April, it was supported by Colin Powell. The retired US army general, who served as National Security Advisor for Ronald Reagan, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff for George H. W. Bush and Secretary of State for George W. Bush, called withdrawal “overdue.”
“What are those troops being told they’re there for? It’s time to bring it to an end.”
Powell noted that when the Soviets withdrew in 1989, they “did it the same way. They got tired, and they marched out and back home. How long did anybody remember that?”
By the end of July US and other NATO forces in the country had been significantly reduced, and the evacuation of our Afghan allies was under way. At the time it was estimated there might be 50,000 Afghan evacuees under “Operation Allies Refuge.”
There is no question that the sudden collapse of the Afghan government and its security forces disrupted the orderly exiting process. A suicide bomber outside the Kabul airport on August 26 took advantage of the situation, killing thirteen American military troops and at least 60 Afghan civilians. More than 100,000 Afghan civilians were injured.
Still, the US Air Force evacuated successfully more than 120,000 people before ending the formal exiting process in the early morning hours of August 31. There are continuing efforts underway to assist those who wish to leave Afghanistan to do so. Both government officials and representatives of nongovernmental agencies are engaged in those efforts.
Biden’s justification for a firm exit from Afghanistan is consistent with recommendations contained in Robert Gates’s 2020 book, Exercise of Power. Gates has had a long and noteworthy career in several sectors of the US national security apparatus. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President George H. W. Bush and as Secretary of Defense under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
In Exercise of Power, Gates argues that in the post-Cold War period the US has depended too much on its military strength in pursuing foreign policy goals. Other significant instruments of power have been allowed to atrophy, sometimes hastened by budget cuts. Gates urges the US to make greater use of our economic strengths, strategic communications, development assistance and diplomacy.
Gates also warns that cyber warfare is potentially “the most powerful weapon in a nation’s arsenal,” an opinion which has been confirmed by events over the past year. He labels cyber warfare “the most versatile instrument of power because it can be used overtly or covertly against military or economic targets.” The US needs to be prepared to use cyber capabilities effectively.
Biden appears determined to reorient US foreign policy and give greater emphasis to diplomatic, economic, humanitarian and cultural tools in defense of American interests. Whether or not he’ll have broad support in Congress for his efforts is yet to be determined. The power of the military-industrial complex, reinforced by a “national security elite” can be formidable. It will seek to thwart Biden’s effort to steer the US ship of state on a less costly course.