Iraq attack underscores damage of Afghan withdrawal
Conn Carroll
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The military bombed at least three Hezbollah targets in Iraq on Monday in response to a series of drone attacks on U.S. service members in the region.
One drone attack on the Erbil Air Base injured three service members earlier in the day. A National Security Council spokesperson said the United States would continue to retaliate as long as Hezbollah continued its attacks.
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“The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue,” the spokesperson said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani was not pleased with the U.S. military action. “This constitutes a clear hostile act. It runs counter to the pursuit of enduring mutual interests in establishing security and stability, and it opposes the declared intention of the American side to enhance relations with Iraq,” he said.
The U.S. has about 3,500 troops in Iraq and Syria that are stationed there to prevent a return of the Islamic State. Then-President Barack Obama removed all troops from Iraq in 2011, but when ISIS filled the void, the U.S. returned to provide stability to the region. They have been there ever since with very minimal casualties.
President Joe Biden could have left a similar contingent of troops in Afghanistan instead of the catastrophic complete withdrawal he ended up ordering on a completely political timetable.
Biden had been warned by his generals that withdrawing all troops would leave the country in chaos. But Biden ignored his general and then lied about it.
Reminded by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that “your top military advisers warned against withdrawing on this timeline. They wanted you to keep about 2,500 troops,” Biden responded, “No, they didn’t.”
But then, under oath in front of Congress, then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley testified, “Yes, my assessment was back in the fall of ’20, and it remains consistent throughout, that we should keep a steady state of 2,500, and it could bounce up to 3,500, in order to move toward a negotiated solution.”
There are very real costs to keeping troops in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Those costs should not be minimized.
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But there are also benefits, such as stopping ISIS from raping and murdering and stopping the Taliban from doing the same. Overseas bases also enable us to aid allies such as Israel better.
Monday’s bombing in Iraq is not only a reminder we still have troops there but also that we could have kept a similar number in Afghanistan, thus preventing the disastrous return of the Taliban.