New US administration and the Afghan problem

On the 20th of January the United States of America transferred administrative power from Donald Trump to the new President, Joe Biden. Joe Biden will become the fourth American president to inherit the Afghan war from his predecessors at a time when the American public is wary of forever wars and looking forward to bringing […]

On the 20th of January the United States of America transferred administrative power from Donald Trump to the new President, Joe Biden. Joe Biden will become the fourth American president to inherit the Afghan war from his predecessors at a time when the American public is wary of forever wars and looking forward to bringing this two-decade conflict to an end.

From among the three predecessors of Joe Biden, George W Bush was the one who sparked the inferno of war by invading Afghanistan. When Barak Obama came to power, he immediately planned a military strategy for Afghanistan instead of learning from the failures and bitter experiences of the Bush administration, increased troops levels to the maximum limit and believed he could solve this quandary through military means. But by the backend the his administrative term, the Obama administration understood that the Afghan problem has no military solution and must be resolved through dialogue.

After Donald Trump became the American president, he too failed to base his policy towards Afghanistan from lessons learnt during the Bush and Obama administrations, instead choosing to test mettle by announcing yet another military strategy to the backdrop of military band music. On top of increasing tempo of military operations, he also expanded propaganda war and employed political and, in the words of General Nicholson, religious pressure in order to win on the battlefield. But as anticipated, this military strategy also quickly began to unravel and the Trump administration reached a conclusion that this war can only come to an end through talks. Subsequently, negotiations were launched in Qatar and on the 10th of Hut, a Termination of Occupation Agreement was signed between the Islamic Emirate and the United States.

Now that the Biden administration has come power in America, both logic and experience dictate that warmongering policies of the previous presidents should not be repeated. Joe Biden, who also served as the vice-president during the Obama administration and has extensive knowledge about adopting military strategies, must base his policy towards the Afghan problem on past experiences and pursue the yet to be completed undertakings of the previous administration.

We must emphasize that the manifest conclusion of the past two-decade experience is that the Aghan issue has no military solution. The negotiation process has so far shown positive results and has proven beyond doubt that if there is a genuine will for a settlement, then all issues can be resolved through dialogue. It is in the interest of both Afghanistan and America that all foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan in accordance with the Doha agreement so that the usurped sovereignty and territorial integrity of our homeland is restored and this conflict may find an end.