Today the U.S has announced that it will withdraw 2,500 American troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq by Jan 15, 2021. Just five days before president- elect Joe Biden would holds inauguration in the white house.
The United states has approximately 4,500 US troops in Afghanistan and 3,000 troops in Iraq. Secretary of defense Christopher Miller has announced that it is no reduction in capability and that this is policy plan would not change neither U.S objectives neither goals. However, Mark Esper which was previous defense secretary before getting fired last week has been pushing back on this plan and asserting that the preconditions on the ground have not yet been met.
One more major hot topic agenda added to president elect Joe Biden to deal with once he’s in office. Joe Biden will face dramatic foreign and domestic issues from the Covid pandemic to racial divisions, economic recession, Iran, china and all the other typical foreign issues. Essentially, if this plan does not turn out to be a good decision it will cause sever damaging. If Al-Qaeda or ISIS are seeking this reduction of 2,500 troops to exert influence by bloody means then this would be a huge problem to Joe Biden will have to face. Al-Qaeda already supports the decision as well with the U.S. agreement with Taliban[1]. This plan typically falls within President Trump’s policy of Isolationism and NATO members are warning from this plan. Whether this plan will have a positive or negative effect is only a matter of little time that we would be able to see and estimate.
[1]Barbara Starr, “ US announces further drawdown of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq before Biden takes office.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/politics/afghanistan-iraq-withdrawal-pentagon/index.html
Fatema,
You’re certainly right that this is a very dangerous and ill-considered decision. Negotiations between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan and the U.S. are at a very sensitive stage. By foolishly ordering the withdrawal of the 2,500 US troops at this moment, it causes the Taliban to see that all they need to do is wait and the US will completely withdraw. Meanwhile, they keep up their attacks on government forces and even on civilians. It also will be extremely difficult for President Biden to commit additional troops BACK into Afghanistan once they have been withdrawn. Yet another mess that Donald Trump has created and will be leaving!
–Professor Wallerstein