The US Again Gets To Choose How It Stops Fighting In Afghanistan
Thomas Alan Schwartz, Vanderbilt University
As headlines proclaim the “end” of “America’s longest war,” President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of the remaining U.S. military personnel from Afghanistan is being covered by some in the news media as though it means the end of the conflict – or even means peace – in Afghanistan. It most certainly does not.
For one thing, the war is not actually ending, even if the U.S. participation in it is dwindling. Afghan government forces, armed and equipped with U.S. supplies – at least for the moment – will continue to fight the Taliban.
Disengagement from an armed conflict is common U.S. practice in recent decades – since the 1970s, the country’s military has simply left Vietnam, Iraq and now Afghanistan. But for much of the country’s history, Americans w...