The battle against the coronavirus is “our big war,” as President Donald Trump has said, but it’s not the only threat this country faces. And the battle against the virus is not only taking place inside of our borders. The big war also intersects with this nation’s longest war, the one in Afghanistan, among other conflicts. And here we need to be prudent in offering our leadership and driving an outcome befitting a great nation.
Last month, at least four Operation Resolute Support coalition members in Afghanistan tested positive for this virus. As a precaution, about 1,500 U.S. troops and civilian personnel are living in “screening facilities” in the country; others are in quarantine. So the virus has slowed the Trump administration’s promised drawdown of U.S. troops, and further complicated the peace agreement signed with the Taliban on Feb. 29.
Meanwhile, the ongoing power struggle between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, with both men claiming victory in the last September’s election, has led the U.S. to cut $1 billion in desperately needed aid to the Afghan government this year and to threaten to do the same in 2021 unless the two sides resolve their differences.
All of this has rightly led to questions about the role the U.S. should play in Afghanistan, and what form Operation Resolute Support should take as COVID-19 threatens civilians and U.S. troops there. The United Nations has called for a ceasefire so that aid can be distributed, but the Taliban continue to wage war. In March alone, more than 180 civilians were killed in the fighting.
Clearly, if we want the Afghan government to stand with us against extremists, now, a key moment of transition and while a pandemic unfolds, is not the time to cut aid. The country’s 38.9 million people, many of them living in poverty with limited access to modern health care, need help. As the Middle East Institute’s Marvin Weinbaum wrote recently, “Afghanistan and Pakistan, both with poor health management capacity, are likely to experience a rapid spread of COVID-19 and a high death rate.”
Long before the threat of COVID-19, the Obama administration determined that it was necessary to keep some 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, alongside a roughly equal number of NATO allies, to train and support Afghan security forces and carry out counterterrorism measures.
In his final State of the Union address in 2008, President George W. Bush said that thanks to the courage of our military and civilian personnel, and our coalition partners, “a nation that was once a safe haven for al-Qaida is now a young democracy where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built and people are looking to the future with new hope.”
That hope has not been extinguished. But it will be if the U.S. leaves Afghanistan to the ravages of COVID-19 and a resurgent Taliban. And the Taliban does appear emboldened. (No, we don’t believe any suggestion that the Taliban will stand down during the pandemic.)
As the U.S commander for the Middle East and Afghanistan, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, recently told Congress that the Taliban “are continuing attacks” that “are not consistent” with a negotiated settlement. “The Taliban,” he emphasized, “need to keep their part of the bargain.”
Yet, what we see in Washington is a willingness to allow the Taliban to lay waste the country.
When asked by a reporter if the Taliban might “overrun” Kabul after U.S. forces withdraw, Trump recently responded, “It’s not supposed to happen that way, but it possibly will.” Earlier in that same exchange, he explained, “Eventually countries have to take care of themselves. … This should have been done a long time ago. But you can only hold somebody’s hand for so long.”
That’s a chilling message for our allies in war-torn Afghanistan and around the world. As the COVID-19 outbreak hits our allies, we need to reassure them that the U.S. remains a global leader and a moral light in these dark times. Even as we do all we can to win this fight at home and keep our military personnel safe, the United States needs to stand by its allies. People and countries tend to stand by you, if they see you standing shoulder to shoulder with them when it really matters.
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