Biden's Blunder Blunder-versary

Taliban Celebrate Three-Year Reign, Republicans Blast Harris for Afghanistan Exit

While the Taliban are celebrating their third anniversary of taking back Kabul, Republicans are wasting no time linking VP and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Harris, who famously claimed to be the " last person in the room" with President Biden before the fateful decision, is doubling down on her support for the botched exit.

Earlier this month, a Harris aide confirmed the VP " strongly supported Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war.” Struggling to gain traction in the race, Harris’s opponents are calling out her support for this "disaster" and "catastrophe."

While the liberals are spinning the withdrawal as a counterterrorism victory for America, let's not forget the airlift of " over 120,000 US citizens," Afghans, and allies in just 17 days was a complete mess. On August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber from the local branch of Islamic State killed thirteen U.S. servicemembers and 170 Afghans at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Despite this horror, there's no evidence the Biden-Harris withdrawal was too fast or too comprehensive. The alternatives proposed ignore the context of the 20-year war and the reality of countering the Islamic State, the " world’s deadliest terrorist group" and our main counterterrorism target.

Critics argue a slower withdrawal or leaving behind a small force could have prevented the attack and kept us in the hunt against ISKP, but the reality is that delaying a full withdrawal would have just endangered more U.S. servicemembers.

The Feb. 29, 2020, U.S.-Taliban peace agreement gave the Taliban a ceasefire but also a short window to remove all U.S. troops by May 31, 2021. When Biden stretched the timeframe, the Taliban vowed to attack remaining forces. Finishing the evacuation on Aug. 30 spared U.S. troops from more conflict, which had already cost the lives of 6,200 US servicemembers and contractors and over $2.3 trillion.

And without U.S. troops, the Taliban have been fighting terrorism themselves. Political violence in Afghanistan dropped by 80% after the withdrawal. In spring 2023, Taliban forces even took out the Abbey Gate bombing ringleader.

Without minimizing the lives lost or left behind, the U.S. withdrawal did net a security gain. America’s departure stabilized the country for the first time since 1979.

The next logical step? Biden and Harris – or Harris and Walz – should withdraw the 3,400 troops we still have in Iraq and Syria, where the Islamic State has already been crushed.

Jason Brownlee, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, is completing a book about America's wars in South Asia and the Middle East.