Those hoping to demilitarize US engagement abroad had a promise in the beginning of the year. "Now was a time for boldness, not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's," said President Joe Biden in his inaugural address.
There was an exciting break from the beltway. A February speech pledged to "course-correct our foreign policy" with a "global posture review."
In his speech, Biden promised to end American support for the Saudi war in Yemen. The New START treaty was extended as a signal that change was on the way.
Biden backed his rhetoric with action as late as this summer. The decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was difficult, but it was the right one. The officials underestimated how long the government could stand alone and failed to evacuate thousands of vulnerable Afghans.
Hamid Karzai International Airport is under the control of the Taliban.
Anadolu Agency via a photo.
The buck stops with Biden if he doesn't achieve a painless withdrawal. The United States was better positioned to focus on core security interests because of it.
Biden's bucking of the foreign policy establishment appears to have been affected by the ugly press of the Kabul fiasco. This holiday season saw the return of depressingly familiar trends, which only accelerated in the final third of the year.
The military responded to the attacks on the Kabul airport with a drone strike. The military admitted it had not killed enemies but a family of innocents after a damning press investigation.
The Pentagon's internal investigation waited until the news cycle was over and then declared itself not guilty, announcing this December that no one would be held accountable.
The US policy toward Afghanistan has been very cruel. The economic upheaval of the Taliban takeover has caused a famine that threatens to plunge half the country into extreme hunger.
Afghans crowded aboard a US Air Force plane to leave Afghanistan.
The US Air Mobility Command/DVIDS is part of the US.
We owe the people of Afghanistan the least we can do after 20 years of interference. We've done that by freezing Afghan foreign reserves and keeping strict sanctions on the government. Many more Afghans may die this winter than in the last 20 years of war.
This also clings to cruel and discredited mindsets of the past. Affirmatively sanctioning illiberal governments in hope of regime change hurts the innocent.
Civil war between the Taliban and other groups would not be more progressive or humane if sanctions succeeded. All of this hardship will be done by us until we get out of the way.
It was frustrating in the bigger picture. The posture review was not published in November but it was announced with a whimper. It concluded that no major strategic changes are needed, which is alarming, given how catastrophic US overextension has been in recent decades.
Congress gave the Pentagon another raise instead of reining in Trump-era increases to defense spending, as Biden requested. The extra money will be used to buy more ships and planes than the military says it needs.
In the Oval Office of the White House, President Joe Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
AP
Congress scrapped bipartisan plans to repeal the 2002 Iraq War AUMF. An important first step to restraining executive war-making would have been achieved with this. This proved too much to ask.
It's not good to not demand accountability for 20 years of failure. We would rather starve millions than admit that the Taliban are in charge of Afghanistan.
With a posture review suggesting all we need to do is stay the course, is it possible to pat ourselves on the back? Is it possible to throw more money at the security iron triangle? Is it possible to not withdraw from Syria or Iraq and not question what's gained from whack-a-mole air wars in dozens of countries? Matthew Petti said that the Biden administration is filled with people who can explain the dangers of the status quo perfectly but have no sense of urgency to fix it.
Nobody has a vision for corrective US strategy. It is a political compromise in the tug of war between advocates of more and less. Biden took initial steps in the right direction, but now appears to have gotten cold feet.
With tensions rising over Ukraine, he may have to make a decision soon. There is a higher chance of war with Russia entering 2022, compared to any other time in recent memory. If the president wants a foreign policy legacy that transforms, he should avoid it and trust his instincts.
Andrew is a fellow at Defense Priorities and a student at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. He served in South Korea as a US Army officer. His article "Afghanistan Was Not Korea: Withdrawal Critics Understate the Costs of War" was published by the Yale Journal of International Affairs. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science.
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