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Biden Abandons Trump's Troop Withdraw Deadline, Sets New Date

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The Biden administration has announced that it plans to remove all remaining American troops from Afghanistan on Sept. 11, 2021.

There are officially 2,500 troops in the country, where the United States began to have a military presence in October 2001, after the attacks on 9/11.

“This is not conditions-based. The president has judged that a conditions-based approach … is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever,” a senior administration official said, according to The Washington Post.

“He has reached the conclusion that the United States will complete its drawdown and will remove its forces from Afghanistan before September 11th,” the official added.

While this is certainly good news for those who would like to see an end to the passive war, the symbolic Sept. 11 date is a shift from the previous administration’s plan.

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Former President Donald Trump wanted troops out of the Middle Eastern nation on May 1, which is two weeks from now.

However, hawkish lawmakers are against the principle of troop removal in the first place, with concerns that it would put Afghanistan in a dangerous spot.

“Precipitously withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan is a grave mistake. It is retreat in the face of an enemy that has not yet been vanquished and abdication of American leadership,” Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Tuesday.

“Leaders in both parties, including me, offered criticism when the prior Administration floated the concept of a reckless withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan,” the Kentucky senator added.

Should troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan?

“A reckless pullback like this would abandon our Afghan, regional, and NATO partners in a shared fight against terrorists that we have not yet won. It will also specifically abandon the women of Afghanistan, whose individual freedoms and human rights will be imperiled.”

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The War on Terror has been going on for nearly two decades, and stalling troop withdrawal is only perpetuating it.

Families of the armed forces deserve better than the mixed messaging coming from partisan leaders, as there are lives that depend on it.

It is not the job of the United States to strive for perfection in unstable nations, and McConnell and other hawkish leaders need to make peace with that fact.

The Biden administration is making the right decision by removing troops, but an autumn date gives them leeway to keep pushing back the time when service members can finally come home.

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Cameron Arcand is a former writer for The Western Journal.
Cameron Arcand is a political commentator based in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2017 as a school project, he founded YoungNotStupid.com, which has grown exponentially since its founding. He has interviewed several notable conservative figures, including Dave Rubin, Peggy Grande and Madison Cawthorn.

In September 2020, Cameron joined The Western Journal as a Commentary Writer, where he has written articles on topics ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic, the "Recall Gavin Newsom" effort and the 2020 election aftermath. The "Young Not Stupid" column launched at The Western Journal in January 2021, making Cameron one of the youngest columnists for a national news outlet in the United States. He has appeared on One America News and Fox 5 DC. He has been a Young America's Foundation member since 2019.
Location
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