Afghanistan: Can Biden dodge failure and forge his own peace?
When American forces ousted the Taliban from power nearly 20 years ago in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, then-President George W. Bush vowed to break the curse of the so-called graveyard of empires.
The history of military conflicts in Afghanistan, Mr. Bush noted, was “one of initial success, followed by long years of floundering and ultimate failure.”
“We’re not going to repeat that mistake,” he said.
Yet today, just weeks away from an inherited May 1 deadline to withdraw U.S. troops, President Joe Biden is scrambling to avoid precisely that verdict, with plans to convene multilateral peace talks in Turkey meant to jump-start last-ditch diplomacy.
The president is torn between the desires to quickly end America’s longest-ever war, and also – in light of Taliban battlefield advances, and a recent Taliban-driven assassination campaign – to
“Everything has to work out”Hard linesAfter the U.S. leaves, then what?