A U.S. Future in Afghanistan?

A U.S. Future in Afghanistan?

In the end no U.S. forces remained in Iraq, with consequences that are still playing out: the de facto separation of Iraq into sectarian pieces and increasing reliance by Mr. Maliki on Iran. Iraq has intermittently allowed Iran to use its airspace to supply weapons and trainers to the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. While a U.S. stay-on force could not have prevented all of these developments, it could have helped defuse some flash points, such as the growing tensions between the Iraqi army and Kurdish forces. In Afghanistan, the results of a full U.S. withdrawal would certainly be worse. To start with, it would be virtually impossible to continue drone strikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan’s tribal territories or Afghanistan itself, since there would be no U.S. bases within the drones’ range. Mr. Karzai’s bravado aside, the withdrawal of all American forces would embolden the Taliban and likely lead to the crumbling of the Afghan army and a new civil war. As it has in Syria, that would create new room for al-Qaeda.

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