An HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter lands as an Army UH-60 Blackhawk prepares to pick up a medivac patient June 13. The 33rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron is the first squadron to have a combat-search-and-rescue mission and a medevac mission, and is based at Kandahar, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Brian Ferguson)
At The Federalist, Gil Barndollar explains that America “doesn’t need an Afghanistan deal. We just need to leave.” There are now Americans eligible to fight in Afghanistan who weren’t even born on 9/11/2001. Barndollar writes (abridged):
Some foreign policy officials openly want American forces to remain in Afghanistan indefinitely for a host of reasons, including maintaining an outpost in Central Asia, safeguarding Afghan women’s rights, or making use of the country’s mineral wealth. For those trying to keep America in Afghanistan, endless negotiations can be a tool to prevent a prudent but expedient withdrawal.
Furthermore, an agreement with the Taliban has an additional, hidden downside: It may enable some, especially in today’s hyper-partisan politics, to avoid coming to terms with American hubris and failure in Afghanistan. A status-of-forces agreement and Byzantine Iraqi politics allowed partisan political actors and winless generals to claim President Barack Obama had “abandoned” Iraq and given away a victory.
Negotiations are nice, but withdrawal is the real goal. To paraphrase an original American winner, the late Oakland Raiders owner and coach Al Davis: On Afghanistan, “Just leave, baby.”
Read more here.
