Afghan hearings make clear the war was unwinnable, exit was the best policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 29, 2021
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org

WASHINGTON, DC—Following yesterday’s hearing in the Senate, the House Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing today on the recently completed U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Defense Priorities Senior Fellow Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis issued the following statement in response:

“Congressional hearings in the Senate and House on the war in Afghanistan make one point painfully clear: Withdrawing all U.S. troops by the August 31 deadline was the right policy. Secretary Austin and Gen. Milley both testified that keeping U.S. forces in Afghanistan beyond that date would have resulted in renewed war with the Taliban. And in such a scenario, additional U.S. casualties would be guaranteed.

“President Biden rightly concluded the 20-year war could never produce a liberal democracy in Afghanistan, at any price, or in any timeframe. Anything other than a full troop withdrawal would have deepened the strategic failure the U.S. already suffered, exponentially increasing the risk to the American forces who would have remained on the ground. As demonstrated by the Afghan army’s rapid collapse in a span of 11 days, no amount of U.S. financial or military commitment would have salvaged the Afghan government and military, which were riven by incompetence, plagued by corruption, and discredited in the eyes of the Afghan people. Withdrawal was the only path in line with America’s security interests.”

Author

Daniel
Davis

Senior Fellow & Military Expert