Richard Clarke, the former adviser of the White House, has claimed that there are high chances that President Biden’s decision to withdraw the U.S army from Afghanistan will crumble the government of Afghanistan.
Clarke said that Biden’s move is very courageous and completely non-political. Clarke served as the top White House counterterrorism official under former President Bill Clinton so his statements are quite noteworthy for the president.
In 2001, President Barack Obama concluded that whatever their flaws, Afghanistan’s elected authorities were far superior to the jihadists they had displaced and should be secured. Joe Biden, his vice president, decided to reduce troop levels, cutting to a small counter-terrorist army. Mr. Biden was defeated in his claim, and a further 17,000 American troops were dispatched. Mr. Biden is now the President of the United States, and he is confronted with a similar problem.
Almost all of the remaining 2,500 American troops in Afghanistan would have withdrawn by September 11th, exactly 20 years after al-Qaeda bombers detonated the twin towers, causing America to depose the Taliban government that terrorized them. The embassy will be guarded by a small group of people. The decision was taken against the advice of America’s officials, who had advised Mr. Biden not to leave the country.
Biden’s Administration
The Biden administration claimed that the danger of terrorism originating from Afghanistan today is lesser than that emanating from different areas of Africa and the Middle East. However, by removing only several thousand remaining US troops from Afghanistan on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Biden is taking a measured chance that jihadists in Afghanistan can be handled by the US and the partner forces somewhere in the area. He doesn’t want to be remembered as the president who overlooked the tenacity and influence of jihadists who still want to strike the US.
Nonetheless, there are concerns. Stephen Biddle, a professor at Columbia University believes that after the Americans and their foreign allies withdraw, al-Qaida will revive its base network in Afghanistan. More generally, the withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan could intensify uncertainty in an area dominated by two competing nuclear powers, Pakistan and India, both of which are dealing with civil wars of their own.
Richard Clarke’s comments on the move
Clarke gave Biden credit for taking the risk and doing something the former presidents could not do. He appreciated the president by saying He did it because it was the right thing to do and somebody eventually had to do it. He also warned that the results of withdrawal are going to be awful in the media.
