The Biden administration has announced that it plans to remove all remaining American troops from Afghanistan on Sept. 11, 2021.
There are officially 2,500 troops in the country, where the United States began to have a military presence in October 2001, after the attacks on 9/11.
“This is not conditions-based. The president has judged that a conditions-based approach … is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever,” a senior administration official said, according to The Washington Post.
“He has reached the conclusion that the United States will complete its drawdown and will remove its forces from Afghanistan before September 11th,” the official added.
While this is certainly good news for those who would like to see an end to the passive war, the symbolic Sept. 11 date is a shift from the previous administration’s plan.
Americans have been told for years that the war in Afghanistan is ending. After decades of empty promises, Biden has a chance to #EndThisEndlessWar.
Bring our troops home. #CountUSOut pic.twitter.com/NLd8K4jOM3
— Quincy Institute (@QuincyInst) April 9, 2021
Former President Donald Trump wanted troops out of the Middle Eastern nation on May 1, which is two weeks from now.
However, hawkish lawmakers are against the principle of troop removal in the first place, with concerns that it would put Afghanistan in a dangerous spot.
Biden is expected to provide details on Wednesday for his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks https://t.co/0ZoNpU6Xc9 pic.twitter.com/hlWkjiw4ZL
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) April 13, 2021
“Precipitously withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan is a grave mistake. It is retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished and abdication of American leadership,” Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Tuesday.
“Leaders in both parties, including me, offered criticism when the prior Administration floated the concept of a reckless withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan,” the Kentucky senator added.
“A reckless pullback like this would abandon our Afghan, regional, and NATO partners in a shared fight against terrorists that we have not yet won. It will also specifically abandon the women of Afghanistan, whose individual freedoms and human rights will be imperiled.”
Foreign terrorists will not leave the U.S. alone simply because our politicians have grown tired of taking the fight to them. The President needs to explain to the American people how abandoning our partners and retreating in the face of the Taliban will make America safer.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) April 13, 2021
The War on Terror has been going on for nearly two decades, and stalling troop withdrawal is only perpetuating it.
Families of the armed forces deserve better than the mixed messaging coming from partisan leaders, as there are lives that depend on it.
Americans have been told for years that the war in Afghanistan is ending. After decades of empty promises, Biden has a chance to #EndThisEndlessWar.
Bring our troops home. #CountUSOut pic.twitter.com/NLd8K4jOM3
— Quincy Institute (@QuincyInst) April 9, 2021
It is not the job of the United States to strive for perfection in unstable nations, and McConnell and other hawkish leaders need to make peace with that fact.
The Biden administration is making the right decision by removing troops, but an autumn date gives them leeway to keep pushing back the time when service members can finally come home.