This will be felt for years to come. Share your thoughts here.                                                                                        
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In a matter of days, Afghanistan fell to Taliban control, undoing 20 years of our work there. The rapid takeover by the Taliban lies squarely on the shoulders of President Joe Biden, and it will have massive national security repercussions for years to come.

We are already seeing the repercussions of Biden’s failed leadership in the worst way, as 13 U.S. service members and 90 Afghan civilians were killed yesterday.

And there are more credible threats emerging.

If you are angry, frustrated, sad, or anxious about President Biden’s incredibly irresponsible handling of the situation in Afghanistan—or really anything right now under his failed leadership—you’re not alone.

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The chaos, the fear, the loss of life should have never happened. The U.S. had an agreement in place for withdrawal. I know, because I was there when it happened.

Last February, the U.S. agreed to a deal with the Taliban and the Afghan government to withdraw troops over the next year, in a conditions-based manner (meaning if the Taliban halted attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces).

I was in Kabul with Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to solidify this decision, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed a “peace” agreement. At that time, the U.S. had 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. Over the course of the next few months, the U.S. and our NATO coalition partners began withdrawing troops from the region.

Remarkably, the peace largely held. Fast forward a few months, and Biden announced the U.S. would draw our troops down to zero by Sept. 11.
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What we learned in the period from roughly March 2020 to January 2021 should have been instructive.

A highly trained rotation of roughly 2,500-3,000 U.S. forces alongside Afghan security forces was enough to keep the Taliban and other terrorist elements from running roughshod over the country. It was a perfect compromise to maintain a fragile peace.

Now, under Biden’s disastrous policy, the U.S. is walking away from hundreds of billions in weaponry that we built over the last 20 years to benefit our security interests in the region, including a massive air base conveniently located between Iran, Pakistan, and Russia.

We are also jeopardizing years of intelligence and surveillance capabilities in the region. The billions of dollars in military equipment will be used by the Taliban and other terrorist entities. In no time, we can expect China will be in Afghanistan under the guise of reconstruction.
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Now, the major humanitarian gains the U.S. helped secure for the Afghan people looks very fragile. Thanks to our efforts, women in Afghanistan were freer than ever, after being barred from public life under prior Taliban control.

In the last election there, women made up 35% of the electorate. And girls finally got access to education, making up more than ⅓ of schools. These gains could all be gone soon because of Biden’s haphazard, reckless actions.

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Thank you,

Alyssa Farah
Visiting Fellow with Independent Women’s Forum
Former Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense
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