Two things that are true at the same time:

1) The war in Afghanistan was a strategic blunder of historic proportions

2) Withdrawing precipitously & unilaterally w/o regard for allies, partners, the wider region, and those who have come to depend on us would be equally bad.

Few, if any, want to maintain an open-ended presence in Afghanistan. We all understand what an open sore our presence there has become and how painful the waste of American lives for little or no benefit has been.

There's no good security argument anymore. But there is an entire generation of Afghans who have come to depend on our presence. There are partners who fought and bled with our soldiers from Tora Bora to Lashkar Gah. There's a fledgling republic we founded and incubated.

We all want to bring our troops home after twenty years of sowing our blood and treasure on seemingly fruitless ground. So, I get the calls for precipitous withdrawal. I understand the President's desire to meet this one campaign promise, at least.

But doing so in this manner will be more harmful in the long run than helpful, not only in terms of ramifications - those pesky second and third-order effects - but also in terms of so-called 'great power competition.'

I served in Afghanistan. I get it. We lost. But what matters more than losing the war is how we help shape the war's aftermath, how we exit the region. Doing so responsibly is the least we owe to those of every nation who gave their lives, not least the Afghans themselves.

@threadreaderapp unroll please